Koumajutsu
by Tsubasa Kya
Summary: When Sasuke returns to Konoha, he is placed under the charge of Naruto. Naruto finds out who his parents were but only has more questions. Who are the Yobidasu, what is a Summoner, and where does Orochimaru and Akatsuki fit in? InuNaru xover.
1. Stone Mountain

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be **Canon Naruto** and **Alternate Universe Inuyasha**. Pairings are undecided at this point._

_Blame for this goes to_ ancient-relic_ who accidentally got my creative juices flowing again with her Naruto/Inuyasha crossover. (You are a 'she' right? Wow, that'd be embarrassing if you aren't, now that I've publicly called you one!) I had a two-week period of time where all I could think of was Naruto/Inuyasha ideas after your fourth chapter. And the other day, I finally got some of it written down. _

**Note: This story takes place for Part Two of Naruto** mostly because I don't like how Part Two is turning out. It starts the morning after Sakura and Naruto team up to fight Kakashi in the first episodes of Part Two. Their fight does indeed happen, but I am also going to take OUT Gaara's battle with the Akatsuki group that happens right away in Part Two. It's a wicked awesome battle, but simply won't fit with my lovely story.

**Note two: This story is AU Inuyasha** for those who won't or don't read the obviously useless disclaimer. Kagome has grown up in Naruto's world in this story, and there is no lengthy hunt for a broken jewel. Kagome is NOT a time traveler in this story. Kagome is NOT an OC. The only thing I have removed is the plot and setting from the Inuyasha story. I am trying to keep personalities the same or similar.

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Chapter one: Stone Mountain

"Ah, Sango-chan! Look! That's the stone mountain my papa talked of!" Kagome said excitedly, pointing at the five visible faces in the mountain. Her father had once talked of the amazing faces cut in stone and ever since hearing about them, she had wanted to see them. Now that the opportunity had arisen, she was well satisfied.

"Kagome-chan, this place is so big!" Sango breathed in amazement. "I've never seen a place so big that was completely filled with people!" She was also incredibly impressed, though the tales her father had told her had not surrounded the mountain but the people beneath it in the city.

The two girls shifted slightly uneasily on the hilltop, for a few minutes simply watching people come in and out of the village. Behind them they heard the ambling noise of a cart and they turned. "Kagome-sama, Sango-sama," Miroku said in a pleading voice, "Please will you wait for me? I do grow so very lonely walking back with the cart."

Kagome laughed, "But you have Sesshoumaru walking with you." She waved to the tall, stoic looking figure dressed in pristine white standing some distance away on the other side of the cart. Sesshoumaru didn't move at all, but instead his gold eyes fixed on the village below. His long silver hair hung down to the back of his knees, blowing slightly in the small breeze. He made no move to indicate he had he had even heard his name. He looked very imperious with the dark blue crescent moon on his forehead and the double maroon stripes that lined his cheek bones.

Miroku ran a hand over his neck, flicking the black dragon tail he kept his hair in. "No offense, Kagome-sama," Miroku muttered with a sideways glance at the silent figure that did not seem entirely human, "but your Summon is hardly companionable company." His dark brown eyes closed briefly and he sighed. He opened his mouth to complain again, but retreating footsteps alerted him to the others leaving.

Kagome and Sango were ignoring him again. Kagome said, "First off, before we do _anything_, I need a bath!" She glanced at Sango's boomerang, attached to Sango's back. She wondered momentarily if she ought to mention to Sango that it would probably be prudent to put it in the cart, but decided against it for the cargo in the cart.

"Agreed," Sango nodded. "Kagome-chan, did you remember to bring money? We may need it before the day is over." Sango knew Kagome sometimes forgot important things like that. To Kagome, money was a minor detail.

Kagome pushed her bangs back, smiling as she did so. Her eyes looked over the city and as they drew closer, she tried to take in every detail she could. "Sesshoumaru reminded me before we left. Don't worry, I didn't forget."

The two marveled at the immense gate as they traveled through it and once again, Miroku brought up the rear, guiding the cart mule. "Amazing!" Kagome and Sango grinned at each other. "I bet they've got bathhouses here." Kagome said.

Sango laughed. "I bet so too! It's so big!" They looked around at the people going every which way, and Kagome noticed two guys at a stand by the gate watching them closely.

"Maybe they can give us directions," Kagome said, tugging the sleeve of Sango's pink and black kimono and pointing toward the two men watching the gate. "What do you think, Sango?"

Sango nodded and the two girls hurried over to the two men. "Excuse me," Sango started, and Kagome saw the two of them eying the large boomerang suspiciously. "We're from Yobidasu clan, and we were wondering," Sango stopped at a noisy screeching and both the two men leaned to look out the gate, while Sango and Kagome turned their heads.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" the noisy creature called, running as fast as his little legs would carry him. The green little creature looked something like a cross between a frog and a toad, and his brown-green robes did him no justice at all. He waved a two-headed staff frantically, tripping often. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" the creature screeched once more.

"Jaken!" Kagome called cheerfully, waving to the little thing, but she received no pleasant greeting. "Jaken, over here!" Kagome called again.

"Maybe he's gone deaf from his own screeching, finally?" Sango suggested.

Kagome tried calling louder. "Jaken, over here!"

She finally received her response, but it was hardly a desired one. "Shut up, you filthy wench!" the creature snapped. He raced over to Sesshoumaru and bent prostrate before him. "My Lord, I am so glad to have finally caught up to you! Sesshoumaru-sama has remarkable speed and grace to move so fast!"

Sango saw Kagome's pout and hurried to cheer the girl up. "Kagome-chan, the baths…"

Kagome smiled at Sango and nodded, turning back to the two men at the front gate. "We're from Yobidasu clan and we've come here to see the stone mountain." Kagome said. Sango elbowed her and Kagome blinked at her friend. "What?"

"Kagome-chan…" Sango tilted her head back toward the cart.

"Well, excuse me if I thought the mountain more important," Kagome muttered, but she recovered quickly. "Also, we would like to speak to your leader."

Sango slapped her hand on her forehead and groaned. She pushed her friend toward the mule and cart. "Go stand over there, and let me handle this, okay?"

Kagome grinned. She'd known it would work, if she just played stupid. She walked over by Miroku. Sango turned back to the two very confused looking men and apologized. "I'm sorry for her. She's waited all her life to see the mountain, and it's gone to her head."

Both men blinked at Sango and one of them ventured to say, "It's a historical landmark, remarkable in its own right."

"What we really need is to speak to your village headman. We've brought a load of medicinal herbs and potions that may be of some interest to you all. We need an inn, preferably with hot bathing, and we were wondering if you could direct us to any of that." Sango sighed, "And we have to request a mission…"

xXx

Naruto yawned widely as he woke up, still sore from the fight with Kakashi the night before. Still, any chance he had to interact with Sakura was a welcome one, and last night he had gotten to interact with her quite a bit, fighting with her to overcome their old sensei.

He stretched lazily before climbing out of bed. A shower later and he was awake fully, though his stomach grumbled. His fridge was still empty, and still unplugged. His cupboards were equally bare. He wasn't even really sure why he was looking in them, since he was the one who had to fill them and he hadn't done that yet.

Resolving to do that today, he plugged in the refrigerator so it could be cooled properly by the time he got back with groceries. It wouldn't be until later in the evening, since he had other things to do, but he figured he could get some breakfast on his way to see the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade.

The streets were lit brightly by the sun, and people were out and about doing whatever it was they had to do. A lot of people he saw greeted him, and he said hello back to them. He wasn't in an incredible mood to talk, however, as his mind fell back to a certain someone.

He'd been thinking a lot about that person, worrying and wondering equally. Had he grown stronger? Probably. He was obsessed with becoming stronger and killing his brother so it was no use thinking he sat on his butt for the past three years. Where was he now? Was his body taken over by Orochimaru?

It wasn't very much later that he was sitting down in a small out of the way restaurant—one he had never been to before—and had requested the breakfast special, Egg Omelet.

Shikamaru's voice pierced his thoughts and Naruto turned to look. "Never thought I'd see _you_ here, of all people," Shikamaru said. He was backed by Chouji and Kiba. Akamaru stood at Kiba's side, a massive dog that could double a horse size. Kiba looked quite different in the black leather jacket, and Naruto could remember the gray fur coat Kiba used to wear. He also could remember that Akamaru used to be a tiny puppy. Somehow, it seemed… wrong.

"Why?" Naruto asked, curious. "Is it bad food? I haven't eaten here before, so I thought I'd try it."

Shikamaru grinned, Kiba smirked, Chouji laughed, and Akamaru barked loudly, all of them seeming to be amused. Shikamaru slid into the booth beside Naruto and he moved over to give room for his old friend. Chouji took up the other side of the booth, his large, pink and gray covered girth taking up much of the bench. Kiba pulled a chair up to the end of the booth and Akamaru sat on the floor beside him. The waitress came to take their orders. They got the breakfast special too, with only one variation. Chouji got six breakfast specials.

Kiba said, "It's not Ramen." It was almost as if that summed up everything they were all thinking, and Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

"I guess," Naruto said, "I just wanted to mix things up." He turned his head to look out the window again, not taking notice of the surprised looks on his friends' faces. He could feel a frown tilt his lips.

"You?" Kiba barked out laughter. "Maybe we should call in the medical squad. Naruto's brain's inverted itself."

Shikamaru grinned as well. "Maybe it's a good change," he said lazily. "Two and a half years ago, there never was enough Ramen to go around, but these past couple years, everyone could eat."

Chouji grumbled, "Is that breakfast coming or what?" His stomach growled.

xXx

Kagome sighed as she soaked in the enclosed hot spring. Sango wasn't with her. Sango had washed up quickly and gotten out. There were a couple of other women in the spring, but Kagome ignored them to favor small thoughts.

It had been a long journey, and very tiresome. They'd brought as much herbs as they could to sell so they could have enough money to pay for a mission. Kagome really didn't like money. It was so bothersome, and back at her family shrine, she didn't need it. She could grow the food she needed and store it for the winter. She could make the clothes she needed. And she could trade healing herbs in a village only a few hours walk from her family shrine if she needed anything like shoe repair or if she needed any sort of utensil that she couldn't make on her own like carpentry nails or good wood boards for repairs to the shrine itself.

Here, she would need money. For their journey, they had sold some herbs in the village a few days before they began their travels, and Kagome had received well-luck wishes for good weather. The shoemaker also agreed to send his son once every few days to the shrine to make sure everything was in order.

So they were set at least that far. As they had traveled, they slept in tents on the edge of the road and ate food they'd bought for traveling. But the reason why they had come on the journey in the first place, and what brought them to the large city of Konohagakure was the man Kagome had fished out of the river near her shrine.

Currently, Miroku was taking care of him. They didn't know his name for sure, but they hoped to find out, soon. That was why they had come here. He was injured badly, so they had waited a couple days for the poultices to heal him enough that he could be moved, although still he couldn't move.

When Kagome had heard from a traveling Konoha Jounin how good Konohagakure's medical squad was, she thought to see if there was anything they could do to help him, since he hadn't been getting better. After a week, he should have been able to move but he couldn't.

With a sigh, Kagome pulled herself out of the hot spring, dried off, and got dressed in a clean outfit; red hakama and a white haori. Proof of her station as a Summoner. She was supposed to see the Fifth Hokage later on, so wearing her regular clothes—a white blouse with green hems and a green skirt with white knee-high stockings and white shoes—would not really be acceptable, at least according to Sango. Now, instead of the stockings and shoes, she wore stockings and split toe sandals.

So there she was, getting dressed in the formal clothing. She pulled the majority of her hair back and tied it once at the nape of her neck, then pulled the last two clumps back, tying them so they hung loose enough to partially drape her shoulders. The back of her haori started to get wet, but she didn't mind. If she didn't tie it back while it was wet, the tie would simply slip out. The water would soak the dyed white leather thong and it would shrink enough as it dried to adhere tightly to her hair.

She grabbed up her clothes and put them in a knapsack, sliding the strap over her shoulder. Once she had left the hot spring building, she turned down the street, searching for the sign that belonged to the inn the guys at the gate had told them would be the best. She'd just come from there a short while ago, but hadn't given much thought to how many blocks she'd come to the baths.

As she approached the inn, Sango came out. She was dressed in her black skin-tight armor suit, the shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee, and ankle guards all a bright fluorescent pink. Her hair was held up in a high tie, and the gray bone mask was covering her lower face and nose. On her back was her large bone boomerang and strapped to her left side was her katana. Kagome knew the girl had other weapons secretly hidden in the guards she wore.

Sango liked to be prepared, but not only that, her outfit depicted her station as a Summon Exterminator. Sango said, "The village's Hokage-sama has agreed to see you now. I was just coming to get you."

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**Many t****hank yous for reading! Please leave a review... It's a little blue-purple button on the bottom... it's calling to you...** (one can hope, anyway).


	2. Kyuubi's Cage

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter two: Kyuubi's Cage

After breakfast, Naruto had completely forgotten about going to see Tsunade. He spent his time wandering around with Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji instead. Somehow they ended up on top of the stone mountain. It had been one of Naruto's favorite times growing up to deface the mountain with spray paint. He could remember many times when he'd done it in the daytime, but he could remember even more times doing it in the darkness of night.

Then, when everyone had woken up, they would see the faces and get very frustrated. A few times, his superiors had come knocking in the morning at his door but he wasn't there. He'd be on top of the mountain watching the commotion below in the place they least expected him.

During those times, they'd never found him atop of the mountain. He suspected the Third knew where he was, but had never told anyone. Naruto sat on the railing, looking out over the village. Shikamaru stood beside him, leaning on the rail. Chouji stood beside the railing on the other side of Shikamaru munching a bag of potato chips. On Naruto's other side, Kiba also sat on the railing, Akamaru on the ground beneath him, wagging his tail.

"So," Naruto said slowly, preparing to broach the subject that had bothered him since he heard about it. "So you guys aren't Genin anymore, huh?"

"Nope," Kiba said shortly, grinning a feral grin in Naruto's direction. Naruto frowned and looked at his hands, clenching his fists. "So when are you going to take the Chunin exam anyway?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I won't take it. I've been thinking, it's all just a rank anyway. I'll get stronger if I keep training, and it would just get in the way of…of other things." He thought about _him_ again. He had to find him, and bring him back. He wouldn't give up, and the test would just be time consuming. He didn't have to have Chunin rank, or Jounin rank or anything like that to be as strong as one who did have that status.

"What other things?" Chouji asked, crunching down on his potato chips.

Naruto said, "Just other things. Training. Other things." Again he shrugged.

Shikamaru clucked his tongue. "How troublesome." It was at that point that each of them seemed to realize Naruto still hadn't given up on _him_. Silence descended on the group as they watched the city below.

A few minutes later, Akamaru started barking and Kiba turned to look at what was bothering the dog. Kiba swore. "Akamaru!" he called, scrambling off the rail. The urgency in his voice got the others to turn and they saw Akamaru racing away from them with Kiba following. "Akamaru, come back!"

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji followed Kiba as Akamaru disappeared behind a bunch of rocks and when they caught up, they found Akamaru had gone racing up a little-known path, going higher up the mountain. They followed the narrow, unseen path and it led to a hole leading inside the mountain. They weren't even sure how the large Akemaru could _fit_ in there.

With more reservation than before, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji continued following Kiba as he raced after Akamaru. The path was very small leading into the mountain. At first, they had to crawl, and then the ground slanted so abruptly they all started sliding down almost as if they were on sleds.

"Yaaa!" they all yelled before they fell free of any ground entirely and landed in a heap on a floor covered in two inches of water. The four groaned, Kiba on the bottom with Chouji in the top. They could hear Akamaru splashing and barking somewhere down the corridor.

xXx

Kagome waited in the hall impatiently. Patience had never really been one of her greatest vices. The billowy sleeves of her haori flared behind her as she paced back and forth. Sango watched her with something akin to humor, but she simply could not stop fidgeting.

"Sango-chan," Kagome said finally, "I thought we were supposed to be meeting with this person already."

"The village Hokage," Sango said automatically. "And we will. Not every headman is like Grobukk, Kagome-chan." Her voice was muffled by the bone mask she wore.

"They should be," Kagome muttered, thinking about the village headman from the village down the road of her shrine. She wondered what was taking the Hokage so long. Finally the doors open and Kagome turned to see a petite woman with black eyes and short black hair standing in the doorway.

"Hokage-sama will see you now, Higurashi-san," the woman said and Kagome and Sango walked in. Kagome fidgeted with the hem of her red sash. Sango stood at Kagome's side, her hands held loosely.

Kagome took one look at the Hokage and was instantly more nervous than she had been two minutes earlier. The Hokage looked quite stern, a like a woman in her late twenties with a no-nonsense attitude. "Um," Kagome gulped and promptly forgot what she had come to speak with the Hokage about.

Sango said, "Hokage-sama, we are from Yobidasu clan, and have come to request a mission. We do not know how much it will cost, so we also brought healing herbs and potions to sell or barter for this mission's price."

Kagome thought she saw the Hokage's eyes narrow marginally and thought it to be a bad thing. "Yobidasu clan? The Summoners?" Kagome nodded and the blond woman's eyes narrowed even more. Her hands remained folded in front of her face.

Kagome said, "Yes, that Yobidasu clan…"

The Hokage said, "And I suppose before you leave," her voice was cold, "you'll have a 'look' at our Genin."

Kagome felt her eyes widen and hurried to assure the woman, "No! We only came to request a mission. I know that three years ago, the leaders of the Hidden villages had been talking to my papa about renewing the Yobidasu relations, but I promise, that won't be happening any time soon."

The black haired woman inquired, "Whatever happened to those talks? Surely the Third Hokage's death did not end those."

Kagome folded her hands in her sleeves to try to minimize the shaking of her nerves. It didn't help very much. "It was not the Third Hokage's death that stopped it, but…" She paused, trying to get a hold on her nerves. Those narrowed eyes were starting to unnerve her. She could face down Sesshoumaru, so this _human woman_ should not be so frightening. "Things happened," she finished.

"_Things happened_?" the Hokage asked. "What kind of things? I'll need more than that, dear."

Kagome sighed. "Just things. I'm not here to try to strike up any agreement to search your Genin for Summoners. I'm simply here because I believe I have someone in my care who was previously a ninja here in Konohagakure." Kagome was able to relax a little bit when the Hokage's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "I can heal him, to an extent, on my own, except he doesn't want to get better, and because I use Maryoku instead of chakra like regular people, I can't force treatment on him. He has to want it for Maryoku to heal him, since Maryoku healing utilizes the body and soul's own desire to get better, and chakra healing only heals the body."

"Have you gotten a name?" the Hokage asked.

Kagome nodded. "I believe it to be 'Naruto'. It seems to be all he can say is, 'Konohagakure. Naruto."

The Hokage's eyes opened very wide indeed and she sat up straight. She said, "Shizune," with such import that Kagome thought she did something wrong. "Find Jiraiya. And Ino and Sakura. Immediately." Shizune left quickly with a speedy nod.

"Did I do something wrong?" Kagome asked nervously once more.

The Hokage said, "No. We do have a young ninja named Naruto here. He was gone for two and a half years and just came back a couple days ago."

Sango asked, "Do you think perhaps the one we found is the real person, and whoever came back may be an impersonator?" The Hokage shrugged. Sango nodded. "See, Kagome-chan?" she whispered lowly. "I told you, they would have answers for us."

Kagome fidgeted with her sash again.

xXx

"Chouji," Naruto groaned. "Chouji, get up." Shikamaru was beneath Naruto, and Kiba was gurgling the water on the floor. Slowly the four of them were able to get up and they looked around to try to figure out where they were. Kiba didn't look around for long, but he raced after Akamaru, disappearing around a corner, his foot falls fading quickly.

Chouji and Shikamaru went to follow, Shikamaru called, "Kiba, wait!" However, the two stopped when they realized Naruto wasn't with them. "Naruto, let's go!" Shikamaru called quickly.

Naruto glanced around, from the wide hall made of stone to the two inches of standing water on the floor, to the torches in the brackets that emitted a faint glow. Somehow, he knew this place. This place was inside of him; but why were the others inside of him? That had never happened before. Whenever he went to the fox for Chakra, he walked through this place and found Kyuubi.

Naruto walked forward, one hand on the slick wall. He couldn't have forced himself to move faster. Shikamaru called to him, "Naruto, what's the hold-up?"

Naruto didn't respond. He came to a stop in front of his friends and glanced at them, curious if it was a dream. He pinched himself and decided it wasn't. Chouji asked, "Did you get hurt in the fall?"

"No…" Naruto kept looking around, once more touching the slick wall, once more looking at his ankles to confirm he was indeed standing in two inches of water. Then Naruto heard in his mind a strange whisper. 'A dog?' the whisperer said almost as if they did not believe it.

Naruto was sure the voice in his mind wasn't his own mind. Somehow it felt separate from him, and he felt his blood quicken at the thought of who it _might_ be. Naruto started walking, beyond Shikamaru, toward where he had always gone to find Kyuubi.

Shikamaru clucked his tongue. "How troublesome," he muttered. He and Chouji took off, to catch up with Kiba, their feet splashing the water. Naruto followed the route he'd always followed and it led him through the corridors and to a place that ended in a large metal gate. The gate had a single strip of paper on it, right where the two doors connected, sealing inside whatever was there.

Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji were not there yet. They were following Akamaru's path; Naruto had gone his usual way. Akamaru was standing in front of the gate, barking, his wet fur bristling. Akamaru didn't sound happy. The light of the torches didn't reach very far into the cage, but they did reflect off of glinting crimson eyes in the back.

Naruto walked forward until he was standing beside Akamaru, looking up at the gate toward the seal. He heard the others come from another hall and down the one that led to the room he now stood in. This wide room with the large gate and the seal.

"Naruto, how did you get here ahead of us?" Shikamaru questioned, though his voice was slower than usual as he too questioned where they were.

Naruto didn't answer. It was good that they didn't seem to expect one. He couldn't answer them anyway, for what would he say? They heard movement inside the cage and Naruto got the distinct impression that Kyuubi's enormous, frightening fox face would appear. Those crimson eyes could belong to no other than Kyuubi. But the movements sounded too small to be that large creature at the same time.

At an almost agonizing pace, the thing in the cage came closer. Kiba grabbed Akamaru by the collar, but the dog kept barking insistently. Kiba said, "Where are we?"

Chouji's response was, "I want to know what's in this cage."

They heard humored laughter and then a damp, pale face appeared. Orange-red hair hung in disorder, and those glinting crimson eyes looked both dangerous and mischievous. Naruto breathed, "Kyuubi," not even aware he had said it until the others took a step back. Of course that name was feared.

"That's right, Na-ru-to," a leering grin crossed the creature's face as he let the syllables drip from him like poison. "Kyuubi. You're here," his hands reached for the bars of his cage and he leaned on it, "that must mean you've come to remove the seal…"

Naruto gulped. It was strange. Any time he'd seen Kyuubi, he'd seen an immense fox with nine tails. But this, this thing, looked almost human. His ears were like normal fox ears, but his body was shaped like a human. He had claws instead of nails, and a mouth full of sharp meat eating teeth that showed with his grin. He was draped in wet clothes, but appeared not to care that it was drafty.

The clothes were strange looking, the pants not quite orange like Naruto's favorite shade, but more of a bloody orange color. He had a sash wrapped around his waist that was a deep black, and his white haori was dirty. Over his back he had a cloak that looked like several orange-red fur pelts sewn together, and it hung down to drag in the water. With his arms up on the metal bars, they could see he was broad shouldered and muscular, despite over a decade in a cage.

Dark red lines wrapped around his eyes and six lines of crimson marked his cheeks like whiskers. His lips were that same bloody orange color.

None of them really knew what to say. Kyuubi laughed at their speechlessness. "Come on now, Summoner." Kyuubi said to Naruto. Naruto wasn't sure _how_ he knew that he was being talked to; it could have been the fact that Kyuubi had yet to look at the others.

Akamaru kept barking urgently. Finally Kyuubi turned to Akamaru and Kiba and he said, "Does he always bark like that?"

Naruto blurted out, "Why do you look like that? You never have before!" He had to know. The others looked in surprise at Naruto, but Kiba was relieved when Kyuubi's attention turned back to Naruto.

"You've _seen_ this thing before?" Shikamaru asked Naruto in a low hiss.

Kyuubi barked out highly amused laughter. "Come, Na-ru-to," he again teased Naruto with his name. "Would it help if I went into my true form? If you remove the seal, I can; and your friends can see my true form too."

Shikamaru said, "Naruto, I thought you said Kyuubi was sealed in you?"

Naruto gulped. "That's…what I thought."

"Aw, didn't anyone tell you poor little cubs?" Kyuubi asked. They all stared at him, all equally perplexed. "_I_ was never sealed inside of Naruto. My _Maryoku_ was sealed inside of Naruto. _I_ was sealed inside this stupid cage. You don't really think someone as big as me could fit inside his skin?"

"Maryoku?" Naruto asked. "Don't you mean chakra?"

Kyuubi chuckled and his laugh seemed to resonate off the very walls and sent ripples on the water. "Not quite. It's a bit different for Summoners and Summon Creatures than it is from regular humans and animals." Kyuubi grinned viciously at their confusion. "Summon Creatures have also been called _youkai_." Again, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji took a step backwards.

"But, I've used your chakra." Naruto insisted.

"You've used Maryoku like chakra. Maryoku operates similarly, and can be used similarly, but it's created differently. Are you going to remove the seal or not?"

Shikamaru said, "Guys, we should go back now."

Naruto didn't listen. He stepped forward. "How do you create Maryoku then?"

Kyuubi's hand snaked out of the bars and he held up three fingers. "The body is made of three things. The Shitai, Seirei, and Reikon—the body, the spirit, and the soul. You combine these three things and the end result is Maryoku. Once you have Maryoku, rather than it traveling through your chakra circulatory system as chakra does, Maryoku flows with your blood."

Chouji and Kiba looked at each other. Kiba said, "I'm…confused."

"Noted," Kyuubi drawled. "Maryoku is more powerful than chakra; it's a rawer form of energy. Using Maryoku, a Summoner can perform _koumajutsu_ to summon things like myself."

Naruto placed a hand on his stomach. "I heard they fought you outside the city."

Kyuubi laughed once more. "They did. But you don't think they took _you_, a baby, out onto that field of carnage. No, they hid you here, and chased me to you. Then the Fourth took my Maryoku right out of me and stuck it in you, then went and died. Still pisses me off to no end that I was defeated by a dead man."

Shikamaru sighed. "How troublesome. Why are we still here?"

Chouji said, "But if Maryoku is made of the body, spirit, and soul, why don't you make more?"

Kyuubi pointed to the seal on the gate. "It doesn't matter if I make some or not. It automatically directs it to Naruto's body." He cocked his head curiously and without moving further, they could see his body glowing red. Only a few seconds later, Naruto felt warmth in his body, and put his hand to his stomach. "See?"

"I…" Naruto frowned. He lifted his black and orange shirt. The guys looked at his stomach, and all four of them could see the seal visible and glowing the same red that Kyuubi was. "It's warm…" Naruto said.

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow at the four of them. "Are you here to remove the seal or not, Summoner?"

Shikamaru said firmly, "No." He turned to the others and said, "We came to get Akamaru. We have him. Let's leave."

Chouji and Kiba turned and started away from the gate, Kiba was firmly leading the agitated Akamaru. Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's arm and started pulling him away. Naruto cast a long last glance at the imprisoned Kyuubi. He saw irritation in Kyuubi's eyes before the human-looking creature pulled away from the gate and disappeared back into the darkness beyond the gate.

They walked for quite a bit before Kiba asked with chattering teeth, "Is there an out to this place? I don't know how we got here, or where we came in." The drafty air was getting to them all, and the torches provided light not heat. It had seemed very warm in the room where Kyuubi was.

Shikamaru said, "Naruto, he said you've been here before. How do you get out?"

Naruto shook his head. "I've never been here before, at least in person."

"Then how did you know where to go?" Chouji asked.

Naruto sighed and went to run his hands through his hair. It was only then that he realized what was missing. "My forehead protector!" he yelped, feeling his head for what wasn't there. "I have to find it!"

"Naruto!" Shikamaru called as Naruto pulled away from Shikamaru's grip and raced back the way they came. Naruto heard his friends groan and chase after him. Their foot falls splashed noisily. "Naruto, you can get a new one!"

"No!" Naruto insisted. "Iruka-sensei gave me that one!"

"Naruto!" the three of them called in unison. Naruto searched the corridors, but the dark water even though it was only a few inches deep did not show the bottom. Eventually they came across a heavy iron door after what felt like hours, and Naruto conceded defeat. They opened the heavy iron door with difficulty, but once it was open they came out into a cave filled with the dark water.

Naruto took a step forward and immediately was immersed completely in water as there was no footing to stand on. Quickly he swam to the surface and cough up the water. "This is all Akamaru's fault!" Naruto said darkly, gathering chakra beneath his feet and hoisting himself on top of the water.

Kiba growled, "You didn't have to follow me!"

"Akamaru shouldn't have run off!" Naruto insisted.

Chouji, Kiba, and Shikamaru gathered chakra beneath their feet as well and started walking across the water surface to the cave entrance, and Akamaru dog-paddled to the other side. Outside, the sun had set and they had to walk across a dark pond to get to dry land.

"Uh," Chouji said, "Where are we?"

"Good question," Shikamaru muttered, looking around. None of them recognized the place they were in. It was filled with greenery the likes of which they had never seen, and in the very center was a hut that had long-since been abandoned, but in front of the hut was a brightly burning fire, strangely enough. Nothing was to be seen as far as civilization went. The area was surrounded by the mountain.

As they walked forward, they shivered. Once they had gotten to the fire, the boys removed their soaked footwear and set it by the fire to dry. They removed their jackets and set them nearby as well. "Hello?" Kiba called. "Is anyone home?"

Naruto walked up to the front door of the hut and knocked, but the door simply fell in. "This is weird." Naruto said. The others agreed silently. "Why would anyone have a fire burning, if they aren't here?"

Akamaru barked at the fire, and Kiba looked. "That's not the only weird thing." He pointed at the fire and they all looked. What had originally looked like wood logs were actually log-shaped rocks, and the fire wrapped around those logs in a strange fashion.

Naruto went into the hut and was immediately assaulted by spider webs and dust. By the light of the fire, he could see a table candelabrum with three wax candles. He grabbed the candelabrum stick and took it to the fire, lighting each wick. When he took the light back into the hut, the spiders and other bugs shied away from the light.

The inside of the hut was ordinary looking. It had two bedrooms, one with a large bed, made up neatly but dusty, with a dresser in one corner of the room and a closet that was open to clothes that were completely dusty and the room was filled with cobwebs. The second bedroom only had a crib, an empty closet, and cobwebs. There was a half-built dresser in the corner, and a rocking chair in what looked to be the main room of the house.

A table was in the main room, and kitchen functionary items. Two chairs and a highchair surrounded the table. A bookshelf was filled with books for a child. Toys littered one corner of the room. The bathroom also still had toothbrushes, and other utensils in it covered in cobwebs.

"It's almost…" Shikamaru started, also looking around. "It's almost like no one left. But the fire… how does one explain that?"

Naruto scratched his neck. "We don't even know where we are. It's obvious we're not in Konohagakure."

"I'm hungry," Chouji muttered.

"There's a fruit tree out back," Naruto said instantly, without bothering to think about it. He set the candles on the table and frowned. "How do I know?" he asked no one in particular. The others were staring at him. He walked to the back door and opened it. It simply fell off the hinges and landed with a thud on the floor, but he looked around. Indeed there was a tree, filled with oranges. But that didn't make sense. Oranges grew in high climate areas, didn't they?

He plucked an orange and looked at it. It was strange. It looked like an orange, but it was more apple-like in that it didn't have an outer peel layer. He sniffed it. It smelled more like a citrus fruit. He bit into it, throwing caution to the wind. Food poisoning wouldn't have made his day worse, anyway. The fruit was very good. It ate like an apple, but it was citrus-tasting and his favorite color. He didn't know what it was called, but he liked it.

He plucked down three more and took them to the others.

"How did you know?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know," he told them. Kiba shared his fruit with Akamaru, who mourned the lack of meat with a low groan.

Shikamaru kept one eye on Naruto as he said, "Maybe we should stay here until morning. Once we have light, we might be able to figure out where we are." The others agreed with that idea. Naruto was uncertain. But they all went outside to dry off by the fire, and Naruto ate the fruit as he continued looking around the house.

For some reason it seemed nostalgic, especially as he crouched by the toys and pushed a toy car back and forth. After a couple of runs, the left front wheel fell off and he sat there, trying to put it back on. He'd eaten the entire fruit, though the seeds he spat into his hand and pocketed. There was no core left. Just like an orange.

He ran a hand through his wet hair. He could hear a woman's voice echoing in his mind, "I planted the fruit trees out back. A nice little row of them." And there was a man laughing quietly. A small pounding noise, like a hammer hitting nails.

A short while later that was where Shikamaru found Naruto, curled up on the floor by the bookcase with the toy car in his hand, fast asleep. The others had fallen asleep outside by the fire. "How troublesome," Shikamaru said, clucking his tongue.

Morning came and Naruto moaned as he sat up. His back hurt from the awkward position he'd slept in, not to mention the fact that a toy horse had been underneath his back. He stumbled out of the house to find the others standing around the fire pit. The fire was out, though the rocks still glowed like cinders.

They didn't notice him at first and he could hear them whispering about something. "Someone should tell him," Chouji said. "It's not right."

Kiba said, "How do you tell someone something like that?" Akamaru seemed to yip in agreement. Naruto was able to pick up his jacket and put it on without them even noticing him. Their backs were to him.

Chouji started, "Well," but then stopped.

Shikamaru said, "I don't know either."

Naruto pulled his socks and shoes on, and they still hadn't noticed him. He sat there, his elbows on his knees and his jacket still unzipped, watching them for a few moments.

Chouji said, "We could just point it out."

Kiba said, "No, you can't do that. Not something like that."

Shikamaru countered, "But there's no easy way to say it." Chouji nodded his agreement.

Kiba said. "No, there probably isn't. But we should be able to come up with something better."

Naruto sighed, attracting their attention. "You guys are terrible ninjas." He told them. "I've sat here for five minutes and none of you noticed me." They all flushed slightly and Naruto stood up. He zipped his coat and jammed his hands in his pockets before looking around. His stomach growled so he went around the hut to the fruit tree and the others, already with their jackets and shoes on, followed. He pulled down one of the fruits and took a bite out of it, tasting its tangy flavor.

"Naruto," Shikamaru started, but he stopped.

Naruto saw a pedestal ahead and moved toward it. What he saw made the fruit drop from his hand. On the pedestal were the words, "Here lies the Fourth Hokage, Uzumaki, Kyo and his beloved wife, Uzumaki, Tsuke."

"How come I never knew?" Naruto wondered aloud.

Shikamaru pointed out, "Everyone always called him _Yondaime Hokage-sama_. I don't think I ever knew his name either."

Naruto thought about last night and how he thought he heard a voice in his mind saying they planted the fruit trees. He guessed that must have actually happened. "Then this is…" he said, turning to look at the abandoned hut and the small grove of trees. "This is where I would've grown up."

Shikamaru pointed over at the small lake that went into the cave in the mountain. "There's a path there that leads up to the top of the mountain and down the other side again into the back of Konohagakure, right behind Hokage-sama's house."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "You guys go ahead… For some reason, I feel like looking around. I'll catch up." The others, feeling suddenly uncomfortable, left Naruto, hurrying to the path. Naruto looked at the pedestal again, feeling an urge to reach out and touch it. He clenched his fists and held back.

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**Three reviews! Yay! That's more than I expected from a Naruto/Inuyasha crossover, and in only a few hours too! The two worlds are so hard to combine logically... Thanks so much! I'm really bored, so I think I'll update again! Please... push the purple-blue button again... I'd probably get more reviews if I waited, but I don't want to wait. Patience is not my best vice. **


	3. Injured Patient

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter three: Injured Patient

It was strange, getting back to Konohagakure. The run wasn't longer than half an hour, and all three of them wondered why they had never known about that strange place with its even stranger fruit.

The last day had an almost dream-like quality to it, like none of it really happened once they got back into the city. But when they each got home, they were accosted by their family members and demands were made to know of their whereabouts.

Once they were free from their family and each of them had showered and changed, they met up in the same restaurant from the day before for lunch. Chouji got twice as much food then, "I have to make up for all those lost meals," was Chouji's excuse.

Only when Chouji was half done did Ino show up. "Have any of you seen Naruto?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, but leave him alone." Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji all said instantly. Chouji continued eating his food.

Ino glared at them, and they attempted to ignore her. "What do you want him for anyway?" Kiba asked as Akamaru lay comfortably beside the table, eating the bone from Kiba's lunch steak, far more pleased with that meal than with the fruit of the night before.

Ino said, "I don't want him, Tsunade-sama does. She said to get him right away yesterday, and no one can find him anywhere."

"How troublesome," Shikamaru said, paying for his meal. "I'll go talk to Tsunade-sama then." Ino trailed him the entire way to the Hokage's building.

"It's no use," Ino said. "Tsunade-sama wants Naruto. Just tell me where he is and I'll go get him." Shikamaru said nothing and Ino started to get annoyed. "Shikamaru, where is he?" Still, he said nothing. He, and the others felt the same way, felt that Naruto deserved some privacy.

As he began mounting the stairs to the Hokage's office, he debated internally how much trouble this would cause him in the long-run. Upon entering the Hokage's office, he found Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, was pacing. He clucked his tongue, figuring the pacing to be due to the fact that Tsunade had missed some important detail or something.

Immediately Ino said, "Shikamaru knows where Naruto is, but he's not telling!"

Tsunade looked up from a piece of paper in her hand, and Kakashi turned his head to look at Ino. Shikamaru ignored the annoyed glare Tsunade sent him. Tsunade said, "If you know where Naruto is, tell me now." She said.

"What do you need him for?" Shikamaru asked, curious.

"What I need him for is nothing of your concern," Tsunade said in irritation. "Where is he?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "How troublesome. He's around."

"Around _where_?" Tsunade demanded.

"For his own sake, I'm going to have to refuse to tell you." Shikamaru explained. "It wouldn't be fair to have you bothering him. So why do you need him? If it's a mission, I'll go in his place."

Tsunade opened her mouth to snap, but Kakashi suddenly said, "It is believed that Naruto might be being impersonated. If you know where he is," Shikamaru shrugged.

"There's no way he's being impersonated." Shikamaru said with surety in his voice. Thinking to how they met Kyuubi, he knew without a doubt that was Naruto. Even Kyuubi had known it was Naruto, somehow, and Shikamaru was sure the creature had never seen Naruto face to face before.

"How do you know?" Shizune asked.

Shikamaru also didn't believe it would be good for any of their health to admit they'd seen Kyuubi. He was sure that place was off-limits to all people. So he shrugged again. "It's safe to say sometimes people can be smart enough not to be fooled. So who is it you've seen that you think is Naruto? He was with me since yesterday at breakfast."

Tsunade sat down in her chair with a huff. "Someone from the Yobidasu clan came with an injured person in tow who claims to be Naruto. They're so bandaged up, though, we can't see what they look like, and though the Yobidasu girl brought him here for us to heal him, he won't let anyone else get close enough to him to do anything."

"The Yobidasu clan?" Shikamaru inquired, racking his brain for who they were. He'd never heard of them before.

Tsunade sighed. "A clan of Summoners." She explained.

"Summoners?" Shikamaru's mind played the conversation between Kyuubi and them the day before. Kyuubi had called Naruto 'Summoner' a couple of times. But even then, he didn't know anything about Summoners—who they were, what they were, what they did.

Kakashi explained, "They're a type of summon using ninja, and their main specialty is koumajutsu, or Summoning Demons technique. While their rank is generally never higher than Genin, they're still extremely powerful in their own right. The weakest Summoner is still the equivalent of a Chunin."

Shikamaru frowned. "How do you know this guy says he's Naruto?"

"Because that's all he says when you ask his name," Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was all very frustrating, since all they currently had to go on was an injured guy who looked like a mummy and the word of a Summoner.

"Why not give a picture to the girl? Surely she's seen his face. If it looks like Naruto and she's not lying, maybe it is Naruto and if so, I'll go get Naruto." Shikamaru said. He turned to leave despite Tsunade's rising temper before turning back for a last question. "Just curious… How does a person become a Summoner? Is there a test or something, like the Chunin exam?"

Kakashi said, "Only the Yobidasu know."

"Can anyone be one?"

"Not according to the Yobidasu." Kakashi said. Shikamaru shrugged and walked out, leaving behind a fuming Tsunade. He knew Naruto was the real one, and he also knew that what he had just done would probably have consequences that he would think quite troublesome, but he and the others felt Naruto deserved privacy and they all agreed that even on the threat of pain or death, they couldn't betray Naruto.

"Shikamaru!" Tsunade yelled in annoyance. "Shikamaru!"

xXx

Kagome wrung excess water out of the linen cloth she had before carefully wiping it across her patient's brow. She hadn't expected him to react violently if anyone else tried to get close to him. He was quite fast, even injured. None of the Konoha medical-nin could get close enough to use medicine to knock him out, and he easily stopped Kagome before she could do it.

Not only that, but even when she thought him sleeping, if he felt the slightest prick of a needle, he reacted. At that moment, he was sleeping—or appeared to be—so she was changing his bandages. She'd had to shave his head when she first was caring for him so she could stitch the wounds on his head. Now, thick black stubble was growing back.

Carefully she wrapped up his head in clean white linen bandages. Sango and Miroku were not in the room at that time. They had gone to pick up some food. Sesshoumaru and Jaken were who-knew-where. She sighed at her patient as she set the linen cloth aside.

"Why have you given up?" she asked him, thinking him to be still sleeping.

She was surprised to get an answer, and even more surprised when it wasn't 'Konohagakure. Naruto.' That had been all he'd ever said so far. "I don't deserve to live." He said it in such a self-resenting voice that Kagome knew instantly he hated himself.

But he was speaking to her, and that was a good thing. "What did you do?" She hoped to keep him talking and to learn a little bit more about him.

"Failed. I failed to see what everyone already knew. I thought I was different, but I wasn't. I'm no different. I'm weak. He wants _Naruto_ not me. He never wanted me, never thought I was a threat. Now, all I want is to see Naruto before I die. Just Naruto. I won't let anyone else close, but Naruto." His voice drifted away and he slept again.

Kagome picked up the bowl of bloody water and dumped it out in the bathroom sink. She debated what she should and should not do with this new light of information. Of course she needed to tell the Hokage, but she couldn't go there now. She couldn't leave her patient alone in the room.

She would have to wait until Sango or Miroku returned. She sat in the chair beside her patient's bed and took up his bandaged hand. If she were her sister, she could do so much more with her Maryoku. But she wasn't. Where her sister had easily grasped all their lessons, Kagome had struggled with them, despite they were twins.

Kagome sighed and her mind replayed that terrifying day. It had been three years since it happened. Sometimes she had terrible nightmares of it. She tried her best to keep smiling from day to day, to pretend nothing happened. It was very difficult, especially after she had to bury her entire clan. She hadn't wanted for it to happen.

The smell of smoke threatened to suffocate her, it had been the reason why she even woke up. The shrine fire had started in the kitchen. Kagome had reached over to shake Sango awake and the girl had gotten up with a moan. When she smelled the smoke, she got her bone mask from the drawer beside her bed and for a moment the two alternated between using it, allowing it to filter the majority of the smoke away.

They had gone to find out what the cause of the heavy smoke was, but right in the hall they tripped over Kagome's little brother, Souta. He had been slashed down with a sword and blood pooled around him.

And then Kikyou, Kagome's older twin sister, was there. She had her bow and an empty quiver of arrows. She said nothing, but took a dagger from a sheath on her wrist and stabbed Kagome in the gut with it. Kagome was too surprised to even react, and when Sango had screamed, Kagome could just barely hear the sound of metal slicing deeply into flesh. Sango fell with a scythe-like blade embedded into her back, and the chain connected the short handle of the blade to Kohaku's hand, Sango's brother.

Kagome had felt the dagger slide out of her, and fell back against the wall. She stared in disbelief at Kikyou and Kohaku as Kohaku stepped beside Kikyou. "Why?" Kagome asked her sister.

Kikyou pulled a jewel from her haori. It, and its rosary upon which it was wound, fell to the floor with a clatter. Kagome watched in horror as her sister took the hard ball end of Kohaku's chain weapon and smashed the jewel with it. "The legacy dies today," Kikyou said. As she said it, her face never ventured from cold indifference. Then Kikyou and Kohaku simply left Kagome there. Kagome had been unable to move so she sat there watching Sango suffer and both of them bled to death.

Sango had fallen unconscious when a man with a mask covering most of his face came. Kagome had looked at him dazedly before asking if he was death coming to claim her. He had said no and went to pick her up. "Sango! Sango needs help more than me." Kagome had insisted. "She couldn't stay conscious."

The man had checked Sango's vitals and, seeing that Sango too was still alive if unconscious, had picked them both up and taken them out of the smoldering shrine.

A knock on the inn room door brought Kagome out of her musing. She placed her patient's hand down and walked across the room. Sango and Miroku wouldn't have knocked, Sesshoumaru didn't like the smell of the inn so wouldn't come in, and Jaken never did anything unless he had no choice. So who could it be?

Kagome opened the door and was surprised to see a familiar face—or at least, a familiar mask covering a face. The black mask made it so she could not see anything of what the man looked like, except that he had one black eye. His left eye was covered by the downward tilted forehead protector and he had silver hair that spiked in strange array.

He looked every bit a shinobi as he had three years before when he'd taken her and Sango out of the burning shrine. Gray and black attire covered his body and she knew those many pockets had a wide variety of weapons in them. The gray bag on his left hip also most likely held his secret indulgence: a romance novel.

"Kakashi-kun," she blinked at him in surprise as he leaned on the doorframe. "I didn't know you were a Konoha shinobi." She heard him chuckle and felt the blood rush to her face. "Well, you never said," his thumb pointed to the forehead protector with the pointed spiral on it. "If I took the time to memorize all those shinobi things, I'd be bored out of my mind," Kagome told him. "Why are you here?"

"I heard you were stirring up trouble in Konoha and thought I'd check up on you." Kakashi glanced at Kagome for a long moment. "How is your training going?" he asked her finally. She looked at Kakashi, knowing there would be no easy way to tell him. She had come to look up to Kakashi, even though he'd only taken care of her for a few days before handing her and Sango over to the villagers.

"It's not really going at all. Sango and I decided to stop. Papa once told me the only limit to Maryoku was my own imagination, but…" Kagome frowned and looked back at the wrapped figure on the bed. "I think my sister was right. The legacy of the Summoners died that day. There's no way the Hidden Shinobi villages would ever want their children to be Summoners if they found out what happened."

Kakashi said, "That doesn't mean you need to give up." He sounded disappointed.

Kagome turned back to Kakashi. "What's the point of getting better?" Kagome asked him. "I'll never pass on my knowledge. It'll just be a waste of time. Instead, I can just grow old farming herbs and rice and be done with it."

"_That_ would be a waste of potential," Kakashi stated.

"It would be stupid to hope for the Yobidasu clan to be revived, Kakashi-kun," Kagome said. "Sango and me are the last ones apart from Kohaku and Kikyou, and those two have the Yobidasu madness. Who knows? Maybe me and Sango are mad too? It's hard to tell those things."

"…Yobidasu…"

Kagome and Kakashi turned to look at Kagome's patient as he struggled to sit up. Kagome hurried over to him and helped him, fixing his pillows so he could sit up for a while without straining too much. "You should be sleeping," Kagome admonished him.

Kakashi came into the room a few steps. "You have a vast multitude of herbs that will knock him out for hours; why haven't you used those?"

"No medicine," Kagome's patient growled, his head falling back on the headboard. He opened his eyes and looked blearily at Kagome and Kakashi both with dazed black eyes. "Yobidasu…" again the word fell from the boy's lips tentatively. "Have I made it to the Yobidasu?" His voice was cracking from disuse.

"Sort of," Kagome winced slightly. Well, there wasn't much of the Yobidasu left to find. "I found you in the river." Kagome glanced at Kakashi, who was watching with interest. This was the most her patient had said yet.

"I need to…" a flicker of uncertainty shadowed the boy's eyes for a moment. "I need to warn the Yobidasu…"

"What do you need to warn us of?" Kagome asked him.

"I have to tell Naruto." The boy insisted. "I won't tell anyone but Naruto. Where is Naruto?"

Kagome assured the boy, "We'll find Naruto. Just sleep for now. Get your strength up for when you see him, okay?" The boy glanced warily at Kakashi before nodding slowly. Kagome grabbed Kakashi's forearm and led him out of the room, closing the door this time.

"I thought you said he told you he _is_ Naruto?" Kakashi inquired softly.

"It was all he was saying before. He woke up earlier and was talking too, and that was when I realized he was looking for someone named Naruto, not that he is Naruto. I just haven't had a chance to tell the Hokage about that."

"What did he say earlier?" Kakashi inquired.

"Something about being weak." Kagome tapped her lip in thought. "And he said he failed to see what others saw. Someone was after Naruto."

Kakashi nodded. "I'll go see about Naruto. If getting information from this kid is as easy as having Naruto present, I see no harm in it. I'll also talk to Tsunade-sama and keep her informed."

"Thanks, Kakashi-kun," Kagome smiled at him. "I'll let Sango-chan know you're here too. She'll be pleased."

Kakashi chuckled, "She probably already knows," he said teasingly before disappearing with a small puff of smoke.

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**Thanks for even more reviews! I'm exceptionally happy now! Making some random people nervous... I'm running out of already-written chapters! I'll have to write more! I forgot to mention something about "Maryoku" in the last chapter's end-note. I did something similar with Maryoku in Voldemort's Daughter so that's why one or two of you may find it familiar. I simply liked the concept I made for that story, and it fit in this one too so I used it here also. You guys are so nice for reviewing. You make me feel all special...and the button gets attention...the button feels special too...**


	4. Journey Log

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter four: Journey Log

It was almost dark out by the time Naruto got back into Konoha. As he walked down the streets, he was reading a book by the light of the streetlamps. He'd found out a great deal in the past twenty-four hours—more about him than in his entire life, really.

But this book? It was like he had struck gold. He'd found it mixed in among the ordinary books on the bookshelf. As he read it, he was jumbled through the crowd and people told him to watch where he was going. He ignored them and continued reading. Eventually he made it to his apartment where he sat down on his bed to read, the light on his bedside table shining brightly.

It was Uzumaki, Kyo's (the Fourth Hokage) daily journey log.

_June 7. Uzumaki, Kyo here. If you're reading this and I'm not dead, you will be soon. Damn, you know? That test at academy graduation was bogus. 'Ooh, make three identical clones of yourself. Ooh, if you can't do this you can't graduate.' Damn sensei. I've gotta go through the academy another year because of that clone thing, which is completely unfair considering a certain classmate of mine—who I won't name, FLETCHER!—can't do any genjutsu or ninjutsu at all and yet he graduates! And then, sensei points out that the Yobidasu would meet with all the Genin tomorrow too just as everyone laughed at me for being held back again. Yes, again. _

_It's just wrong. Last year they did that same test. Make three identical clones. I've tried for two years now and it's just not working. If I ever learn the secret to it, maybe I'll transform my clones into naked girls. Sensei's a closet pervert anyway. Hah! It'd be funny if that could happen. Me transforming into some harem of women, I mean. _

_But now I'll have to wait another year for the chance to be seen by the Yobidasu! Mom's bugging me about dinner. I gotta go down. _

What was the Yobidasu? Why was it important to be seen by them? But Naruto couldn't help but grin at 'harem of women'. He could do that. And he had done it to a lot of people to get his way.

_June 18. Well, something really cool happened, and mom suggested I write it in my journey log, so here I am. The Yobidasu, the coolest, most honorable clan there ever was in the whole world, are staying right next door to mom and me. I know, it's not a big deal, right? Wrong! It's the most momentous thing that's ever happened in my whole life! I've always dreamed of being a Summoner. I could bring honor and glory to Konoha simply by being a Summoner. _

There it was. That word 'Summoner' again. What was a Summoner? And what was so great about them? Why had Kyuubi called Naruto by that?

_I know I have to graduate the academy first, but still. To think they're right next door from me. If I bang on the wall, will they yell at me? _

_I wonder why the Yobidasu came back? They left without any qualifying students three days after graduation. Did they get home and come back to change their mind? I heard that everyone failed the test. _

_June 19. It took a lot of work, but I found out why the Yobidasu are back. Okay, actually, I snuck into Hokage's office and hid in the ceiling tiles for several hours hoping the Yobidasu would show up. It wasn't a lot of hard work, more than it was time consuming and I starved the whole time. Next time I'll take some food with me. _

_According to the Yobidasu, experience is hard to come by without field work, and since the Yobidasu aren't an actual Hidden Shinobi village but are a small country with one small village, one shrine, and the surrounding farmlands, they don't get missions to go on and thus they don't have field experience. So what they've come back for is to request that all Konoha-Yobidasu Summoners be allowed field work. _

_Great huh? I'll get to see Huro again! _

Naruto wondered who Huro was. He supposed it was one of the Fourth's friends. That would be obvious enough, he supposed. At least he knew something more about the Yobidasu now. But if there were some kind of Summoner in Konoha now, going off on missions, shouldn't he know about that? He wasn't so dumb that he would know nothing, was he? Maybe someone else would know something about them...

_December 29. Huro came back a few days ago, and I got to see him today. He laughed at me for failing the test (again). I was going to pick a fight with him and prove to him that I'm not as weak as my rank when he did some weird thing with his chakra and made at least a hundred of himself. When I asked what he did with his chakra, he said he didn't do anything with it, since he can't make chakra anymore. _

Someone could do ninjutsu without chakra? How was that possible? Did it have something to do with that Maryoku that Kyuubi mentioned? It sounded more like the Mass Shadow Replication technique than the clone technique, so it must not have been genjutsu...

_I thought he was joking at first, but he was serious. He said what he did was combine the body, soul, and spirit together to make Maryoku, whereas chakra is made using only the body and spirit. He said it's also different because chakra goes through your chakra circulatory system and Maryoku flows through everything. _

_Then Huro told me to try building my chakra up until I couldn't hold anymore so I did, and he said he'd do the same thing with his Maryoku. The entire ground started to groan, and cracks started webbing away from Huro's feet. It was intense! I had to release my hold on my chakra so I could steady myself or I'd have fallen into the river. _

Was Maryoku that powerful? Naruto thought if it was, it would be very useful to learn if it was. He could use it against Orochiimaru that way.

_Huro's really come a long way in such a short time. He graduated two and a half years ago, when I was supposed to graduate the first time. Then Huro gave me some tips on how to make clones and had to go out on a mission, but I stayed by the river to try to make clones. Only six months left, you know. This time the Yobidasu won't know what hit 'em. _

As Naruto read, he found himself hoping Kyo did make the clones. He still didn't know very much about the Yobidasu, but it seemed to be a dream Kyo had for the future to be recognized by the Yobidasu, and wanting to be recognized was definitely something Naruto could understand.

_March 15. Huro came back again, but he's injured. He's missing his left leg. When I asked him about what happened, he kind of laughed and said, "I forgot I'm not invincible." I almost thought he had been for a while too. He'd go out on missions with two Jounin even though technically he's only a Genin by Konoha standards, and they'd all come back without a scratch. His teammates constantly praised his skills too and said he was coming along nicely. _

Naruto was surprised to find himself upset that Huro got hurt.

_Huro keeps saying it's no big deal and he can fight on a broken leg any day. Hokage-sama asked him if he realized his leg was missing, not broken, and Huro said, "Missing, broken, what's the difference?" Huro's awesome, but kind of dumb sometimes. _

_June 7. Huro still hasn't gone out on missions since he lost his leg. He's in a wheelchair now. He said he's going to come to graduation today to make sure I succeed, and he said if I don't pass today, he's going to beat the crap out of me. Well, here goes nothing. _

It was at this point that Naruto heard the knocking on his apartment door. It was loud and insistent and kind of annoying. He used his finger to mark the page and padded over to the door. He opened the door and found Sakura with her hand raised to pound another round.

"Oh! You are here," Sakura said somewhat dumbly.

"Yeah… it's my home," he told her pointedly. "I was under the impression that people could be found at home." Sakura flushed slightly. "What are you banging on my door for anyway?" He let a teasing grin cross his lips. "Did you want that Ichiraku Ramen date after all?"

Sakura's embarrassed flush turned to anger and she said, "No! Everyone's been looking for you! Where've you been? We were all worried, 'cause Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba said you needed to be alone! We thought something happened!"

Naruto blinked several times as he registered that. He hadn't actually expected anyone to notice him being gone, or he wouldn't have stayed away so long. "Really?" he asked.

Sakura said, "Yes really! Tsunade-sama even got Kakashi-sensei out looking for you. And Jiraiya-sama! They've been turning the whole city upside down! I just happened to be on my way home when I noticed a light on in your apartment."

Naruto looked at the clock on the wall. He'd been back at least an hour. "Huh," he muttered.

Sakura saw the book in his hand then and she scowled. "The whole town's been looking for you, and you've been reading?" She grabbed his free hand and dragged him out of his apartment. He somewhat admired her strength—there he was, being dragged out of his apartment by a girl he'd crushed on for years. "Tsunade-sama wants to see you!"

"At least let me get my shoes and close my apartment door, Sakura-chan!" Naruto complained. She complied, grudgingly, and he got his shoes on and locked up his apartment before following her. Still, he kept the book with him, and read by the light of the streetlamps once more.

_June 8. Guess who's a Genin? Not me! Failed. Again. And Huro really can fight on a missing leg. He proved it to the whole city when he beat the crap out of me for failing. Hokage-sama said if Huro's still doing as well in a couple of months, he can go on missions again. At least something good came of this failure. I think Huro might be even better on only one leg than on two. Weird. _

_June 10. I've been called to Hokage-sama's office. If I don't survive, look for my body and give it to my mom for me. Damn, he's probably going to lecture me about 'The Shinobi Need To Succeed' or something. _

"What are you reading, anyway?" Sakura asked. She sounded surprised for some reason.

Annoyed to be disturbed to begin with, and then having Sakura ask him what he was reading (disturbing him further), he grumbled, "Make-Out Paradise." The words just came out, before he could stop them. He turned the page, continuing to read, but an angry fist connected quite suddenly with his head. "Ow!" he yelped, and the book clattered to the ground.

"You're such a…a…**pervert**!" Sakura yelled. As he rubbed his head and bent to pick up the book, Sakura walked ahead of him. He glared at her, wondering of his sanity for his crush on her. It was strange—he no longer got all fuzzy-brained because of her.

He picked the book up and flicked through it for his page. It was slightly torn. He sighed and followed Sakura, starting to read again, only half paying attention to where he was going.

_June 11. I don't get it. The Yobidasu were waiting for me in the Hokage's office. They said they'd talked to the Hokage about me because they saw me in my graduation exam the last three years. They said they saw something in me that was rare and said I'd make good 'Summon Exterminator' material. I've never even heard of a Summon Exterminator before, but then again a lot about the Yobidasu is kept secret. _

What was a Summon Exterminator? Did it have anything to do with Summoners? Probably had to do with killing something... Summoners, perhaps? But Kyuubi had mentioned Summon Creatures...what if the Summon Exterminator killed the creatures?

It didn't seem like Sakura could keep ahead of him for very long. She fell back into step with him again and said, "I thought you told Kakashi-sensei you thought those books were boring?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and then turned his eyes forward for a moment. She was staring at him instead of where she was walking. "You're going to run into that guy," he said, and a second later a guy who hadn't been paying attention to his path knocked Sakura down, draping her in questionable brown liquid. She glared at Naruto like it was his fault. Immediately he snapped the book shut and took off running.

Two seconds later, Sakura was hot on his heels, raising a fist at him. She didn't smell very good. Thankfully when she saw he was almost to the Hokage's building she went a different way.

Heart pounding, Naruto watched to make sure she had gone before opening the book while he mounted the stairs toward Hokage's office.

_But they said if I'd be interested, they'd take me and train me to be a Summon Exterminator. I blurted out 'yes' before I could even think about it. My mom's not too happy. She told me I should have at least graduated before accepting anything, so I feel a little guilty. That's all mom's ever wanted from me, was for me to graduate. I leave tomorrow for the Yobidasu shrine and I'm kind of worried about mom, since she'll be all alone. Huro promised to keep an eye on her as much as possible while I'm gone. _

Naruto found himself annoyed with Kyo too, for disappointing his mom. If Naruto had a mom, he wouldn't want her to be mad with him. But he supposed that was due to the fact that he didn't have one growing up.

He walked into Tsunade's office, not bothering to knock. If she was looking for him, then she was expecting him, right? It was logical she didn't need warning for his arrival in that matter. He shut the book and carefully jammed it in his ninja kit pouch on his left hip.

Inside the room, Tsunade was pacing. She looked rather unsettled, and he wondered what could have happened to ruffle the old bird's feathers. For once, Tsunade was alone in the office. She usually at least had Shizune around.

At his entrance, she looked up. She seemed surprised. "Naruto," she started, before her temper began rising. What happened? He hadn't been gone long. "Uzumaki, Naruto!" she snapped. "Where have you been?"

Naruto blinked. "I've been around."

"Around!" Tsunade huffed, smashing her fist down on her desk so hard it broke in two. Shizune would have a fit over that. "That's all anyone can say these days! 'Around' indeed!"

"I _have_ been around," Naruto said. He was more than annoyed. He wanted to get back to that daily journey log. No one had ever told him about his parents before. He hadn't really thought to ask, but now what he thought about it… he wanted to know. What were they like? What happened to them? He knew Kyuubi had killed his father now that he knew the Fourth was his father. "What's the big deal? You were just going to waste my time with a stupid mission anyway."

Immediately he found that to be the wrong thing to say. "Stupid?" she sputtered.

Naruto said, "What do you want? If you want to sit here arguing, I'm going home." He really didn't want to be around his elders at that moment. How many of them knew who his father was and just didn't say anything? How many of them knew his father was the Fourth?

Tsunade's fury at his words grew. Naruto could almost feel Kyuubi whispering in his mind. "If you removed the seal, I could take care of her."

Naruto clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "I don't _want_ you to. Shut up!" He glared at the now-surprised Tsunade. "I'm going home!" Naruto had no clue why she didn't stop him, but he was glad nonetheless. He raced across rooftops, sticking to the shadows. He was almost to his apartment when he decided against going home. If everyone was looking for him, he was going to stay away—at least until he could personally forgive them for omitting the truth his whole life.

He made his way to Shikamaru's place and landed lightly on the roof. He could remember academy days when he, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji would skip school. If it was raining, they'd slip into the deer barn unnoticed and lay up in the hayloft. Now, that was where he went. He lay down on the scratchy hay and stared off into the darkness of the upper loft.

When he got bored, he took out his pocket flashlight from his ninja kit and started reading the book.

_July 1. This stuff is kind of hard, but it's obvious I'm not the only one here who never made Genin. There's one from Hidden Star village, and two from Hidden Sand village. I'm learning a lot about the people, too. The Yobidasu clan is made up of a wide variety of different shinobi, but it was first formed through the wedlock union of Higurashi clan and Tengomi clan. The two clans used to war with each other, and the fierce nature of those wars eventually brought all the nations into the dispute. _

Finally, Naruto was learning something about the Yobidasu. It was annoying him for a while not knowing anything.

_In the settling of the clan's dispute, a marriage between Higurashi and Tengomi clan's heirs was proposed to seal the settlement. Then there was the problem of what clan would adopt which name, so the Hidden villages chose the name Yobidasu, for 'to summon'. _

_What I'm learning here is how to be a Summon Exterminator. Reitle-sensei says it's an even more important and honorable duty than being a Summoner. It's not something that's widely talked about as to 'why' there has to be a Summon Exterminator, but I managed to wheedle the information out of a fellow student. _

Good, he'd get to know why Summon Exterminators were necessary.

_So, what I've heard so far is that every few generations, though it's extremely rare not to be caught in advance, is that some Summoners become infected. According to my highly questionable and rat-faced source, Summoners are able to use koumajutsu, a Summoning Demons technique, but koumajutsu is dangerous because once in a while the technique corrupts the Summoner's mind and causes them to start to go berserk. _

_And since Summon Creatures are linked to their Summoner, they have no choice but to follow the Summoner's orders even if they are given in insanity. So that's what I've been brought here for. I'm learning how to make Maryoku instead of chakra, which I've come to define Maryoku as more powerful chakra, and I'll be trained in more weapons combat than you can imagine. Honestly some of these people can make a grain of salt a deadly weapon. _

He woke to the smell of Ramen and opened his eyes to find the dim barn lights glaring at him. He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep. Shikamaru set a To-Go dish of Ramen before Naruto with a rather cocky grin. He leaned back in the hay as Naruto sat up with a groan. "You're more trouble than I ever asked for," Shikamaru grumbled.

Naruto ran his hand through his hair and once more felt the lack of his forehead protector. "I found the Fourth's daily journey log." He dug it out of his ninja kit and looked at the plain binding of the small book again.

Shikamaru clucked his tongue. "Bet it's loaded with the secrets of his training."

Naruto shook his head. "It doesn't seem to be. He failed the Genin exam three times." Shikamaru's eyes widened marginally and he whistled in amazement. Naruto picked up the To-Go Ramen. "Thanks for the Ramen." He muttered.

"Tch," Shikamaru said, "don't worry about it. Have you seen Tsunade-sama yet?"

Naruto slurped his soup. "Yeah," he said, knowing full well his annoyance could be heard in his tone. "I don't think I was ever supposed to meet Kyuubi in person. Now that I have, he's been whispering in my head… I think… Or maybe I'm nuts."

"What's he saying?" Shikamaru asked with curiosity.

Naruto set the half-eaten Ramen aside. He found himself no longer hungry, and again he was bothered by all that had happened since he got back to Konoha. First, a test battle with Kakashi. Then he met the _real_ Kyuubi. Then, as if that wasn't enough stress in one day, he was dumped upon his dead parents' grave.

"It's…" Naruto stopped himself before he could say anything. "It's just nothing," he finished. It was between him and Kyuubi—somehow he felt he needed to take care of it himself. He had no idea what to do about it, though. Shikamaru didn't believe him, but was too lazy to press for information, or maybe he just didn't care.

"Okay, Naruto," Shikamaru said, sitting up straight. "I don't know why you're in the barn, but if you could just leave before pops comes to toss hay in the morning, I'd really appreciate it. I'd rather not be accused of harboring your ass when everyone's looking for you." He stood up and pulled his top-knot loose, letting his thick black hair fall about his shoulders. "I'm going to bed."

He was on the ladder to climb out of the loft when he looked back at Naruto. "We didn't tell anyone." He said, as if it mattered. Then he slid down the ladder. When he was down, the lights went off and Naruto heard the barn door slide shut.

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**So many thank yous to say! Thanks to **Kage Otome, Ashuri Nikouru, lildevil0644, Mz Mischief, Kagome Lady of Darkness, Death By Squishy** (that would be a crazy way to die), **ancient-relic** (you're reading it! You really are!), and everyone else who has reviewed and yet at the time I was writing this I hadn't seen your review. I have some stuff to go fix in chapter five now! ...**_that sneaky button is attracting you like a bee to pollen...like a bug to a light...like TK to sugar...push it...peer pressure..._


	5. Summoner Girl

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter five: Summoner Girl

The loose gravel on the path up the mountain made the footing slightly treacherous as Kagome scrambled up toward the top with a small sack slung over her shoulder. Inside the bag, loosely kept jars clacked together, sometimes making a dull thud when the rubber stoppers bumped each other.

It was morning, and the sun hadn't even risen yet, but that was good for her—perhaps not for her beauty rest, but it was a good thing for the task she had set herself on. In her bag was a book with a marked page, and on that page was the reason why she had Sesshoumaru wake her at an ungodly hour. He was the only one who could wake her before she wanted to be up, at least without getting shrieked at anyway.

He walked ahead of her, glowing with surreal beauty in the pale light of the setting moon. His knee length silver hair swayed just barely in the brisk breeze. He never seemed to think to slow down for her; he was hard to keep up with.

She shivered in her everyday clothes. The skirt only went to mid-thigh, and was no help in retaining her body heat. Her white blouse was a long-sleeve one, but also failed to warm her very much. Her knee-high stockings had a negative effect because they had soaked up the morning dew when they walked through tall grass.

"Sesshoumaru, are you sure you know where you're going?" she asked him with something kin to annoyance lacing her voice. She couldn't help but be irritable at three in the morning. She was sure he knew where he was going, but that didn't stop her from asking.

Sesshoumaru—as was quite normal for him—did not respond to the young Summoner's question and merely ignored her, like he did to the rest of the world. She was glad Jaken hadn't woken up that morning, or he would have certainly wanted to come. That would have made an early morning even more intolerable.

She slipped on the rocks several times until her banged up knees were groaning in protest. Finally after what seemed like hours of walking but couldn't have been more than twenty minutes on the slope, Sesshoumaru stopped. He turned abruptly to his left and walked to the edge of a crevice in the mountain.

Kagome approached with more care than he did. He might recover from a fall down into that deep gorge, but she would probably get more than a little 'owie'. "Is this it?" Kagome asked, looking down into the crevice.

Sesshoumaru looked straight across to the other side. It was more than thirty feet over, and what he looked at was just a very tall, very narrow rock. There were several of them in the area, and they sort of looked like stepping stones leading down into the bottom. Kagome gave Sesshoumaru an annoyed glance. "You mean to say, I came all the way up here just to climb down on a bunch of dumpy stones again? Please tell me you're joking!"

Sesshoumaru sent a scathing glare at Kagome, almost as if to say, 'This Sesshoumaru does not joke.' Then he pointed out, "There," and his hand pointed to a glowing cluster on the side of the canyon wall.

Kagome strained her eyes to see and found it did indeed glow in the moonlight. She took out her book and her mini-flashlight from her bag, opening the book to the marked page and checking the description. "I hope that's it," Kagome muttered darkly. "My patient better be grateful."

She jammed the book back into her bag and turned off the flashlight, also putting that back in her bag. Once that was set, she looked at Sesshoumaru. "You'll help me get down there, right?" She didn't get a warning before he wrapped his arm around her waist and easily jumped to the first of the stepping stones, then the second, then the third. He continued following the stepping-stone path down. When they were fifty feet above the bottom of the gorge, the stepping-stone path leveled out and the stones were now everywhere, some closer to others and some farther apart.

Sesshoumaru followed the stones straight for that glowing patch, and they found a platform to be raised out of the cliff face. The platform was at least ten feet under the lowest of the glowing flora. She took her book out again to consult it. It had to be harvested in the light of the moon—so that meant while it was glowing right? She turned to ask Sesshoumaru to lift her up, but found with great dismay that he wasn't there.

He had chosen quite the opportune moment to take off. When she was fifty feet above a painful death, and at least a hundred feet below a safe landing. She gritted her teeth together. Well, this was up to her then, she supposed. She would have to get the plants on her own.

She put her book in the bag again before putting her hands against the wall of the cliff, searching in the darkness for a handhold. She was so glad she wasn't afraid of heights, or she would have more of a problem with what she was doing. Climbing a cliff face, unsupported, in the darkness…

She only had ten feet to climb… and eighteen jars to stuff with the glowing plant. Of course, since she couldn't get the _stupid_ plant at that angle (harvesting with both hands clinging to a wall was difficult, she soon found out) she had to rethink her plans.

xXx

Naruto looked around in confusion as he heard some sort of strangled groaning. He had left Shikamaru's early that morning, gone home to shower and change, went out for groceries to fill his fridge already. Now he was on top of the stone mountain overlooking the city so he could hide from Tsunade and read the journey log.

He'd only just finished re-reading the entry he'd fallen asleep during and now there was that weird noise disturbing his concentration. Again he looked around, trying to locate it. The sound led him to the ledge where he peered over and found that about twenty feet beneath him, there was a very strange girl climbing up the cliff side, grumbling in great irritation.

She seemed to not notice him, so he called, "Hey, you need any help?" Startled by the abrupt sound of his voice, she yelped and clung to the wall. "You okay?" he asked instantly. She certainly did seem to be struggling.

"I'm fine," she squeaked. "You wouldn't happen to have any rope, would you?" she called, hardly moving from where she was. He looked in his ninja kit for anything that might help at all and pulled out a kunai and some thin cord. He knotted the thin cord on the eye of the kunai's end so he'd have something firm to grip, tossing the cord down over the side. Unfortunately the cord only made it down fifteen feet.

"Can you get the cord?" he asked her. She looked up hesitantly. Seeing the cord, she started climbing again, her hands and feet searching for holds. "I could climb down the cliff face with my chakra," he called to her, wondering why he hadn't thought of it before.

"No, don't do it," she called back. "I'll be okay…" As she said that, ironically the handhold she'd grabbed broke off and her feet slipped. "Aiee!" she screamed. Naruto didn't have any time to think about whether or not he should go after her. Instantly he built his chakra in his feet, dropped the book, and raced down the cliff face after her.

It was also instantaneous that he found why she told him not to use his chakra. There was some sort of chakra-repelling force that sent him skidding after her. He dug the kunai into the cliff face and it barely caught, even as the force that repelled him helped him catch up to her.

Naruto grabbed her hand, his other hand just barely hanging on to the end of the cord. There was a painful searing in his palm that told him his skin had been rubbed off when his hand slid down the cord, but he had caught her at least.

As they swayed slightly on the cliff face, Naruto glanced down at her and she glanced up at him. They both laughed nervously at the situation. "At least," Kagome giggled worriedly, "we're not still falling…"

Naruto felt his face drain of all color. He could feel them slipping. The more they swayed, the more the kunai slipped. His mind scrambled and he looked for footholds or handholds. It really wouldn't have made a difference since he couldn't let go of the rope, hold her, and grab the cliff face all at once.

So the kunai slipped. Something miraculous happened after that: they fell.

The girl grabbed Naruto's hand with both of hers and yanked on it. He fell faster and they came together—she turned as they fell so her back was to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hang on!" she yelled over the sound of the wind whistling in their ears.

"To what? Can you fly or something?" he was being sarcastic, but she took him seriously—really, they were falling to their death! Why was she climbing a wall that couldn't be climbed with chakra to begin with?

"Just hang on!" she yelled again, and he did, holding her waist firmly. She released his wrists, folding her left hand around her right palm, with only her left pointer finger, and her right pointer and middle fingers pressed straight together, and between those three fingers she held two large scales—gray in color. He could literally feel her chakra as she built it, and the speed she was forming it was incredible. Her chakra seemed to pulse through his body until his heart started beating in time with it. The feeling left him breathless and he almost let her go for a brief second before biting his lip and hanging on.

Then in a split second, all that chakra was released and she yelled, "Ah-Un no Koumajutsu!" Right before his very eyes, a swirling dark void appeared in the sky in front of them and a two-headed dragon came flying out on a crash course for where they were. Naruto's eyes went wide; the dragon caught them in its fore-claws. Naruto got to see a claw as long as his arm and as round as his head, sharper than a needle wrapped around them.

"Ah-Un, back to the mountain top!" the girl yelled and the dragon shrieked in response before flying to the mountain top. Naruto's mind whirled—he was being carried by a _dragon_! It was incredible, and frightening. The dragon landed on the mountain with such force that the ground trembled, but it landed on its hind legs first, dropped the two of them, and then fell on its fore-claws.

Lying on his back, with the girl sprawled next to him, Naruto gasped in fear and excitement, staring up at the massive dragon. And something clicked in his brain. _Koumajutsu_. She had performed koumajutsu, right in front of him. He had watched a dragon simply appear from some sort of black void in the sky.

He turned to look at the girl, to tell her how cool he thought that had been. She was digging through that brown knapsack she'd been carrying the whole time. She was taking out jars filled with some sort of mildly glowing plant-life and setting them on the ground, counting them. She had sixteen jars and two broken ones to total eighteen. Once all the jars were out, she took out a thick book entitled "Konoha Agriculture", and a flashlight, and then turned the entire bag upside down, dumping out a variety of oddities he'd never seen before—or at least, nothing he'd ever known a shinobi to carry.

The plant-life that was glowing in sixteen of the jars was also falling out of the bag, although those plants were not glowing anymore like the plant-life in the jars. Other things he saw were a toy spin-top, what looked to be a thin hair wrapped around a shard of lightning contained in a jar, a string of seven rings, each ring made of a different metal and of different thickness, a very thin rock carved out like a leaf, a two-inch tall painted wood carving of a potted tomato plant, a green beaded hairclip with two white feathers sticking out of it, a decorative hair comb carved out of what appeared to be bone, and a semi-thick book entitled "Level one Summons". The book appeared to have no author.

She no longer had the two gray scales she had when she performed the jutsu. He guessed the scales had something to do with summoning the dragon above him.

Silently he watched her as she shook the bag several times, and the non-glowing plant-life fell from the bag still. He realized what she was doing; she was getting those plants out. The only things in her bag he thought were really shinobi related were a kunai, and the flashlight—since every good shinobi requires a flashlight.

The rest appeared to be trinkets.

"Are you a shinobi?" Naruto asked her as she started replacing her things in her knapsack. He thought she might be on of the Yobidasu that Kyo talked about in his daily journey log. She looked rather young, he guessed around Naruto's age. Her raven hair seemed to be streaked an iridescent blue when the sun hit it just right, and it flowed freely to her waist (although at the moment it was rather disheveled). Her white blouse was torn on the sleeves, and the hems had been lined in dark green. A green tie was wrapped under her collar, though like her sleeves it was worse-for-wear. Her dark green skirt was very short, and the hem was frayed. All of her clothes from the blouse to her stockings were dirty or torn.

The girl looked at Naruto in surprise. "No, I'm not," she said. She smiled at him. "I'm just a really foolish girl, I guess." She indicated the broken jars with one hand as she slung her now-full bag over her shoulder. The dragon pushed one of its noses in the girl's face and she laughed, gently pushing it away. "Un, stop it." The second head did it too. "Ah! Not you too!"

Naruto blinked, moving out from under the dragon. A few seconds later, the girl stood up and rubbed both dragons' noses and then stood back. "Okay, time to go back!" she told the dragon, and put her hands once more in that strange clasp. "UnSummon!" she said and the dragon looked sadly at her as a black void appeared in the sky. "Not today, Ah-Un. I think I've had enough flying, and we're in Konoha… Maybe another day."

The dragon raised both heads and called noisily before flapping his wings and taking off toward the void. As his tail disappeared, the void closed and the two gray scales were back in between the girl's fingers.

"Was that Summoning? I mean, koumajutsu…the Summoning Demons technique?" He was already positive it was, but the thought of it left him breathless. It was amazing. He found himself almost wanting to feel that whooshing of power again that he'd felt when she'd first opened the void.

"Uh huh," the girl nodded. She looked over to where Naruto had stood looking down on her. "Did you drop your book?" she asked, pointing to a book lying face down on the ground. He looked and when he saw it, he went to pick it up.

"That was awesome!" Naruto told her. "How did you do that?" He got the book and put it in his ninja kit for the time being. "I mean, I could feel it… it was incredible!"

The girl blushed prettily. "It was nothing, really. Do you know how to get out of this mountain? I kind of came up here when it was still dark, and…" she looked around, then pointed to the other side of the crevice that Naruto always hid in. "And I think I came up over there."

Naruto glanced over to the other side of the crevice; Tsunade's stone face was over on the other side. "You're… sort of crazy," he told her honestly. "What were you doing up here in the dark?"

"Harvesting," her face turned into a look of annoyance. "I came looking for a specific plant for a patient of mine, and it turns out the one I ended up with is a very close match, except it's not quite it…"

"Oh." Naruto blinked. "Well, no problem then. Let me help you get back, okay? Where are you headed?"

"I'll need to talk to the Hokage." Naruto felt his shoulders slouch. The world was simply urging him to meet with Tsunade. She'd bite his head off for leaving like that. He nodded and started walking. She fell into step with him.

"So you must be a Summoner, huh?" Naruto asked her.

She looked sadly at him. "I guess you could say that."

"A…a Yobidasu, right? That's the clan, right?"

"I'm surprised." She said abruptly.

"Why?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I didn't think after the Kyuubi incident, Konoha would ever let anyone know about my clan. I know it's taboo to speak of it in some of the other countries, and what happened here didn't even happen there."

Naruto felt his eyes widen. _The Kyuubi incident_. He gulped. Would he find out what happened to his father if he asked?

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**Thank you **foxs woman, Ashuri Nikouru, KuroxTenshi, lildevil0644, DeathNoteMaker, **and** Mz Mischief **for your reviews! Now, I think I'm going to wait a few days before updating this time and see if I can't get more reviews by waiting. **_Button...purpley-blue colored...speaking your name...whispering thoughts in your ear...Please REVIEW!! _


	6. Glowing Pendant

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter six: Glowing Pendant

Kagome was grateful to leave the mountain. She swore the next time she saw the top of a mountain, she would be sick. She was grateful the boy had been up there, though she didn't know why he had been.

Since the boy had fallen silent—he was biting his lip as if he were debating something internally—she decided it was okay to ask as she put the two gray scales she'd been playing with back in her knapsack and tied the straps firmly.

"Um, not to interrupt your thoughts or anything," she began and he glanced at her with those bright blue eyes, "I was curious why you were up on a mountain anyway. It doesn't seem like the place a person goes to for no reason, considering it's a little more than out of the way."

He blushed slightly in embarrassment. "I was just reading," he told her. She couldn't help but giggle at the tone of his voice. He sounded like he knew going to the top of a mountain to read seemed like a ridiculous excuse. "It's true though," he muttered. "Everything keeps happening to stop me from reading."

"Then you must be mad at me, huh?" she asked him. If he was, he was pretty good at hiding it, since he only looked embarrassed, not angry.

He shook his head. "No, I'm not mad. So, how come you're on a mountain again? You said you had a patient or something?"

Kagome nodded and thought about her patient. He was starting to really annoy her as much as her useless trip to the mountain did. He had no will at all, and without the will to live, Kagome could not heal him with her Maryoku. He still would let no one else near him; for being half-dead, he was particularly agile. He practically flew away from anyone else who came near him with chakra.

So she thought if she could give him the will to live, she could start healing him. She'd researched it all evening, asking the Hokage for books on local plants. The books had been provided, and she'd found a plant in the books that would bring pure happiness to the user for a small period of time. It would wipe all thought except pure, uncontained bliss from the user's mind.

Essentially, she thought if she could harvest the plant and slip its potent drug into her patient's food as she fed him, she could use it to trick his will. If he found everything 'nice' and could think no thoughts of death, her Maryoku should then be able to work.

"Well," Kagome explained, "I came to get a plant called Upers. It's a plant-life that grows on the cliff walls, and the flowers glow in the moonlight." She dug in her bag and took out the book she'd borrowed from the Hokage, opening it to the first of two marked pages. She showed him the page as they continued down the mountain, then took out one of the small jars of plant-life to show him. "Unfortunately, as you can see, the plant I've got is different than what I was looking for."

The boy looked from the jar to the picture shown. "I don't see a difference," he told her.

Kagome indicated the stem of the flower shown. "This one doesn't have a furry stem." She then held up the jar again. "But this one does. I thought at first it was the right one despite that, but I'm glad I searched the book again, since I came up with this—" she turned to the second marked page and showed him.

The only difference between the two plants was the fuzzy stem in the second picture. "So," he started, "then what is it you have?"

Kagome put the book and jar back in her bag, once more closing it firmly. "This one is, rather unfortunately, a stool softener."

"But you left those flowers on the mountain…" he began, and she laughed.

"Anyone who grabs those plants and eats them deserves the punishment they'll get." At his confused look, she elaborated, "It can be used to help people go to the bathroom. It's a laxative." He looked embarrassed.

Brooding silence met her after that as she followed the young man down from the mountain. He seemed to be debating something internally. She didn't want to interrupt his thoughts again, so she simply walked alongside him and tried to figure out what she was going to do with her patient.

As of the previous afternoon, the Hokage had still not found 'Naruto'. And Kakashi had said he would find Naruto, but never came back. She assumed that meant he too had no luck finding the elusive person who her patient was calling for, and that brought her no closer to finding out what information her patient had about her clan—as it seemed he had important information.

It bothered her greatly that anyone could feel so strongly about death being their fate. It was true that eventually everyone would die, but people were not born to die. They were born to live. Having lived through the loss of her whole clan, it was even more obvious to her that there were reasons to live. She had to live for everyone who could not. She had to live for everyone who could—for those who lived in the village down the road, yet were not a part of her clan.

Her sister had said the legacy died that night in the fire. Maybe she was right and maybe the legacy of the Summoners did die. But Kagome did not die, and it was not her fate. She wasn't consumed by the desire like her patient seemed to be, and it scared her that he was. The feeling of helplessness bothered her greatly.

"Um," the boy started as they were nearing the bottom of the mountain. She glanced at him and he spoke in a rush, almost like he wasn't sure he'd say it if he paused anymore. "Why is there a glow coming from your chest?"

Kagome was so startled by that, she stopped in her tracks and stared at him with wide eyes. Instantly her hand went to her chest. The boy stopped and looked back at her. He blushed a deep red. "Sorry! It wasn't what I wanted to ask… It just sort of popped out instead. I don't mean to sound perverted!"

Kagome reached into her shirt and pulled the pendant out; Toutousai had imbued the broken shards of the Shikon no Tama into a two-inch diameter silver round pendant. The jewel had broken into eight small shards and a large piece of it still remained together. He'd embedded the large piece in the center of the silver pendant, and the eight shards were imbued around it like rays of the sun.

Indeed the pieces of the Shikon no Tama were glowing—a bright white. Normally the pieces were a soft pink and looked like ordinary pieces of colored glass. Only a select handful of people could ever see that glow—and the ability to see it was very special. She knew what that meant, but she said nothing about _that_ and put the pendant back under her shirt, the fine chain on which it hung disappearing beneath the fabric of her collar.

"It's just reacting to my recent Summoning," she lied. He took that as an honest answer and she pondered the new development silently. They made it to the city of Konoha after passing through a shinobi training ground and she said, "Thanks for leading me back. I should be okay from here."

"Are you sure?" he asked, and she nodded. He bit his lip again, and she reached out gently pinching his chin. The movement got him to stop biting his lip.

"Quit worrying your lip like that." She told him with a smile. "Someone might startle you while you did that, and you'd bite yourself. I'm sure. I have to go change before I can see the Hokage anyway." She thanked him again before walking down the street. She turned a corner down the street before realizing she could have had him show her to her inn—without wandering for hours looking for it.

She went back to the street she'd left him on, but he wasn't there anymore. "Smooth move idiot," she berated herself darkly. "Walk off from someone who was willing to guide you through the massive streets of this too-large city."

xXx

Naruto was just about to get himself lunch from his refrigerator when the front door to his apartment opened. Confused as to why anyone would come into his apartment to begin with, he padded over to stare at the front door. It was just open… a glance outside showed no one to be there. "Huh?" he questioned no one.

As he was closing the door, he thought aloud, "I must not have closed it properly." He made sure it latched that time and stalked back to the kitchen where he was boiling instant ramen on the stove. It seemed to be frothing a little bit much, so he turned down the temperature on the stove, figuring the starch in the noodles would make the water overflow if he didn't.

He wondered over the Summoner girl he'd met. She was a Yobidasu. There were so many questions he'd wanted to ask, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

A few minutes later, he was pouring himself a glass of milk and carrying the milk and his bowl of soup toward the table. He didn't realize there was a washcloth on the floor until after he'd tripped over it. The hot soup scalded him and he yelped, but the cold milk cooled the burns for the most part.

"Ah damn it!" he swore. "REALLY! Who the hell leaves a _washcloth_ on the floor? Honestly!" he kicked at the washcloth but it did not retaliate at his verbal or physical abuses. He had ramen noodles in his hair now.

He grumbled some more as he sat on the floor in a puddle of ramen, picking noodles from his hair. It was a good thing he put the journal on his bed, or it'd be soaked through his kit.

xXx

Thankfully Kagome ran into a familiar face on another street. She hurried after the pink haired girl, calling out to her. "Sakura-san!" she called. The first call didn't stop the girl—she seemed busy talking to someone, a merchant of sorts. Then Sakura got a bag of items from the merchant and Kagome called out again. "Sakura-san!"

Kagome stopped in front of Sakura and received an odd look from the girl, almost as if the girl didn't recognize her. Then a look of dawning spread and the girl said, "Kagome-san! I didn't recognize you! You look very different with your hair free."

Kagome knew she made a face at that. "Don't remind me, please." Sakura blinked. "I'm lost, though! Could you please direct me to my inn?"

Sakura smiled. "Yeah. I can." She had already had to lead Kagome to her inn twice since Kagome got to Konoha—and this would be the third time. Through those brief walks, Sakura had learned Kagome had a terrible sense of direction. They started walking and Sakura gave Kagome another strange look. "You look ruffled… did something happen?"

Kagome glared at nothing in particular, though a few people who saw her look seemed to wither away from the incensed female. "Sesshoumaru abandoned me, that's what!" she huffed. "If it weren't for a really nice young man, I'd still be stuck up on the mountain!"

Sakura blinked yet again. "What were you doing up on the mountain to begin with?"

"Wasting my time, apparently," Kagome grumbled. Sakura looked very surprised at that, so Kagome moved to explain immediately. "I looked through a book of Konoha herbs, looking for a specific type of plant for my patient. Then I asked Sesshoumaru if he knew of anything like it in the area. He did, so I had him take me to it. Unfortunately it was on the cliff face of the mountain—and he just left me there alone!"

Sakura looked even more surprised. "I see," she said. "Oh! I think Hokage-sama wanted to see you too."

"I was just going to change and be on my way," Kagome told Sakura.

Sakura smiled in amusement. "Maybe I ought to wait for you?"

Kagome blushed, but before she could respond, someone behind Kagome spoke. "That won't be necessary, Sakura-chan." Kagome turned to see who it was and found Kakashi leaning against the wall beside the door into the inn. "Kagome, go get changed. I'll give you three minutes."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura looked astonished. "You know Kagome-san?" Kagome didn't wait to listen to the rest of the discussion. She went into the inn and up to the room she was sharing with Sango, Miroku, and her patient. She found Sango and Miroku playing cards on the bed Kagome and Sango were sharing (Miroku got to sleep on the floor). Her patient was sitting up in his bed staring out the window. He still looked like a wrapped mummy.

"You should be laying down!" she admonished the young man, but he ignored her. Sango and Miroku looked up at her from their card came, so she rounded on them. "You guys were supposed to watch him!"

Miroku said, "We did watch him… you never said to stop him if he sat up."

Kagome glared at him and he smiled sweetly. Sango pointed out, "What did you want us to do, Kagome-chan? He was insistent about sitting up, and growled like a feral dog when we tried to stop him. He hasn't moved except to sit up."

Kagome moved over to his side, grabbing his stubborn chin and forcing him to look at her. "You! I don't care if you do want to die, but as long as you're under my care, you're going to stop doing this to yourself! If I tell you to stay laying down or you'll tear your stitches—**again**—then you will stay laying down!" She put all her righteous anger into the glare she leveled at him, but he seemed unconcerned.

"You smell like the mountains of Konoha," he said.

She blushed and let him go. "That's because I've been crawling all over it—for who? You, you dummy! Because _someone_ thinks that I'll give up if he waits long enough. Well, I'll tell you what," she glared down at him. "Patience won't make me think you're ready to die! You won't die on my watch, even after you see this 'Naruto' person!"

She took off her knapsack and dropped it on the bed, grabbing up her folded Summoner robes—Sango, as usual, was a very tidy person and had folded the clothes Kagome had so carefully crumpled. She walked into the bathroom, fuming at her patient's attitude. She couldn't get her hair to obey her and stay in the tie, so she gave up. When she left the bathroom, the red pants she wore were swishing almost as though to echo her irritation.

"And another thing!" Kagome said loudly, pointing at the patient who so irked her with his calm, collected attitude today, "Yesterday, you sounded like a whiny baby! So don't try playing this stupid game with me, because I know very well what you're really like, you baby!" He seemed a little taken aback by her sharp words, but she didn't care. "Don't you dare move an inch of your body until I get back to help you lay back down! I'm sick of stitching you up!"

Sango and Miroku even looked surprised at her tone. "I woke up early for _this_?" Kagome snapped, leaving before she said something she would regret more than what she'd already said.

She left the inn to find Kakashi waiting for her. "I said 'three minutes' not 'twelve'." He teased.

Kagome clenched her fists. "That dumb ass!" she swore as Kakashi led her toward the Hokage's. "If he wanted to die so bad, he shouldn't have shown up at my shrine!"

Kakashi chuckled. "If anyone can make him heal, I think it's you. You're too stubborn not to get your way." She felt her anger deflate into mere confusion. "What is it now, Kagome?"

"It's just that I don't understand why…" She thought about her conversation with him the day before. "Why does he think he failed? And who was it that saw something he couldn't? And why does it matter so much to him?"

Kakashi shrugged. "It's bothering you a lot, isn't it?"

Kagome sighed. "A lot," she agreed. "Just who _is_ he? He's been coherent since late last night, no longer muttering nonsense. But if I ask what his name is, he says 'deserter'. Then he'll just stare quietly out the window. I can't stand his attitude either! It's like he lost everything, and no longer sees a reason to live—and that's what his soul says when it rejects the healing of my Maryoku!"

Kakashi said, "That's why you went looking for the Upers plant, isn't it?" It was more of a statement than it was a question. "You were going to drug him." She blushed, wondering how he had guessed. "I'm not stupid, Kagome. I followed you up the mountain this morning, and I watched you use koumajutsu. I also know Naruto can see the glow of your trinket, because I followed you down the mountain and eavesdropped on your conversation. You should have told him about Kyuubi."

"You…" she felt her irritation come back full force—directed at him. "I was falling to my death and you did nothing!"

Kakashi said, "I wanted to force you to use koumajutsu, so I performed a chakra repelling jutsu on the mountain face. If you think about it, you're exactly like your patient right now. You've given up on being a Summoner, because you say 'what's the point?' He's given up on life because he's thinking, 'what's the point?' So really, your irritation at him is ill-founded."

"So you're saying I should give up on him?!" she snapped angrily. He wasn't bothered by her outburst. Instead, it seemed more like he was humored by it.

"Not at all. I think you should just give him a little more credit. You're more like him than you know."

Kagome glared at Kakashi as they started up the stairs to the Hokage. "How do you know anyway?" she was absolutely furious to be labeled similar to someone who wanted to die. "We don't even know who he is!"

Kakashi laughed. "Ah, incorrect." Kakashi told her. "_You_ don't know who he is."

"And then how do you know who he is?" Kagome demanded.

Kakashi shrugged. "Something you said he said told me. Aside from that… I heard his voice. You can wrap him up in as much linen as you like, and I won't recognize him—unless I hear his voice." They entered the Hokage's study; Kagome was fuming.

"And all along, you've _known_? Why would you do this to me? If I had known you knew my patient, I would never have gone to that mountain!" Kagome practically shouted, and those people in the room stopped what they were doing to stare at Kagome.

"I know you wouldn't have gone if you knew. That's why I didn't tell you." Kakashi told her.

Her fists were ready to dish out justice, but she forced herself to hold back. She would never have managed to land a hit even if she tried. "You deliberately chased me to using it! I broke a promise I made to my father's grave because of you!"

Kakashi said seriously, "Your father wouldn't have wanted you to keep that promise." Kagome opened her mouth to demand of Kakashi to stop 'assuming' what her father would have wanted, but realized that was what she had been doing all along. "Your father lost his arm and his leg and he was still Summoning." Kakashi told her. "If it had been him in your place, do you think what happened would have made him make a foolish promise?"

Kagome bit her lip to keep herself from crying. Kakashi was right, wasn't he? Silence fell in the room as everyone tried to figure out what Kakashi and Kagome were really arguing over. There was so much more to what he was saying; she heard it all.

Then, out of the blue, Kagome heard someone say, "You shouldn't worry your lip. Someone could sneak up on you and startle you. Then you'd bite your lip, and it'd be sore."

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**Thank you **Ashuri Nikouru, Mz Mischief, ancient-relic, foxs woman, KuroxTenshi, lildevil0644, and Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami **for your reviews! Before you go thinking I'm a funny person for updating "So Soon", you must first consider these words very carefully: I posted yesterday... and somewhere in the world, it's already tomorrow! So, I waited a couple days, didn't I? And I did get more reviews for waiting, so I'll try it again! **_Please review...because I really want to know what people think of this awesome argument between Kagome and Kakashi! And speculations on relationships are always good, as I'm still undecided as to who is paired with who...now that button is calling you...still...telling you I love you...and that you should REVIEW!!_


	7. Dropped Ties

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter seven: Dropped Ties

Neiji was _very_ annoyed. He glanced at the girl who had just entered Tsunade's office arguing with Kakashi. Part of him wanted to simply walk out. He had been up all night looking for Naruto—a lot of them had. Tenten, Lee, Shino, Sakura, Hinata and Ino had all been searching. Jiraiya, Kakashi, Gai-sensei, and a few others had also been searching.

It had started out as a small affair—simply something that Tsunade had Jiraiya, Ino, and Sakura working on together. They believed Naruto might be being impersonated by someone, and were going to have those three bring the questionable Naruto in for interrogation.

Then, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba and Akamaru had gone missing, and they had been seen last with Naruto in a restaurant. They looked all night for Naruto and the others, but found them nowhere. When Shikamaru and the others came back—without Naruto—the others had to get involved in the supposedly 'simple' mission.

To make matters worse, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba knew where Naruto was but would say nothing. So, those three were taken in for questioning by the ANBU during the afternoon. They were given truth serums and yet somehow still none of them talked.

So, late in the evening Naruto had apparently been found. He'd seen the Hokage for a few minutes, and hearing the news that he'd been found, everyone had gone home and prepared for their evening, most of them annoyed to have wasted their day. Neiji had been so annoyed, he had snapped at Hinata, even if his cousin did nothing to deserve it.

Of course, Hinata and Neiji hadn't been back home for more than half an hour when they received orders once more to search for and find Naruto at all cost. They were warned that Naruto may not go to Tsunade willingly—though neither Neiji nor Hinata could figure out why—and so were told to use force if necessary.

It didn't help that Jiraiya had said there was a time one week prior when the two of them were passing through the Sound country and Naruto and him got separated long enough that it was _possible_ someone could have impersonated Naruto.

So, Neiji was annoyed, frustrated, and tired. He felt that if he closed his eyes for too long, he would fall asleep standing up. He hadn't made Jounin status just to be given 'Find and Retrieve' type missions. Then, due to his over-exhaustion (he wouldn't be so tired if he slept more than four hours a night when he did sleep) he'd made the foolish error of attempting to use a simple sleeping powder in Naruto's ramen.

He should have known Naruto would be too smart for such a childish trick. He must have seen right through it and spilled the soup on purpose; that was just a clever guise he'd shown when he acted like he fell. No, Neiji thought, Naruto really must have tripped. He was too foolish to pull off something so complicated.

With a heated glare at the back of Naruto's head, Neiji had to bite the inside of his lip to keep himself from striking out in annoyance. He tried to tell himself it was an important thing that Naruto needed to be found—but he just couldn't believe it. So all of them stood in Tsunade's office, all those who had been involved in the location of Naruto. Plus, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba and Akamaru were there.

The office was stifling with so many people in it, and the windows were open. Neiji couldn't imagine how Shino felt, layered in dark cloth with his hood up and his sunglasses on. And then there was Kiba, wearing his black leather.

Neiji tried to pull himself together and pay attention to the argument between Kakashi and the girl in the flowing red and white garments, able to do so just in time to hear Naruto blurt out, "You shouldn't worry your lip. Someone could sneak up on you and startle you. Then you'd bite your lip, and it'd be sore."

Just hearing Naruto's voice after such a long, annoying day made Neiji have to clench his fists before he did something he could potentially be punished for—murder for instance. He had worked very hard to become a Jounin…and then he was given a mission to fetch Naruto?!

As the girl turned to look at Naruto, a look of recognition dawned on her face. "You're that boy from before," she stated with no small amount of surprise. She looked back and forth between Kakashi and the boy, a look of greater annoyance crossing her face. She rounded on Kakashi. "You mean to say I spent the greater part of an hour walking down a mountain with the very person everyone was looking for?" she spat in frustration.

Kakashi laughed and patted her head in great amusement. Neiji shuddered. That girl looked really scary in that instant. How could Kakashi be so fearless? Unless there was something Neiji didn't know of her, which was very likely, since this was his first time seeing her.

"You're catching on, Kagome," he said.

She was clenching and unclenching her fists, huffing as her eyes flashed much like an angry Tsunade's eyes did. "You're a condescending ass sometimes, Kakashi-kun." She said finally.

At that, Neiji knew he wasn't the only one who was far too confused. _Kakashi-kun_? Neiji had never heard anyone say something so entirely familiar about Kakashi before. And Kakashi? Neiji didn't know the guy that well, but he was sure he'd never seen or heard of Kakashi act like he was acting.

"Good to know all my hard effort pays off once in a while." He turned to Tsunade and took a slip of paper out of his vest, sliding it across the desk to her. As Tsunade took it up and folded it open to read it, Kakashi glanced around the room. "Everyone but Naruto can leave."

Neiji was glad, and since Tsunade didn't call them back, he mutely followed the others out. Jiraiya didn't leave, and neither did Shizune, but no one else dared stay—especially since Tsunade's eyes were narrowing in a look that promised death. They were passing through the front gate when Hinata caught up to Neiji, shuffling nervously.

"What do you want?" he asked his cousin, his voice more impatient than usual.

Hinata poked her forefingers together as she walked. "Um, Neiji-kun," _why_ had she taken to calling him that? "Do you think Naruto-kun will be alright?"

"Not if he is an impostor as they think." Neiji told her. Hinata looked back with worry. He knew her thoughts. She was thinking about falling back and stalking the gates until she found out what happened to Naruto. Neiji grabbed her wrist. "You will go home and sleep, Hinata-sama," he told the heiress of their clan.

"Okay," she murmured, but she kept looking back at the Hokage's mansion.

xXx

Kakashi introduced Kagome to Naruto. "Uzumaki, Naruto, this is Higurashi, Kagome."

Kagome tilted her head in greeting to Naruto, though she was still very frustrated at Kakashi. Sometimes she had difficulty defining when he was serious and when he wasn't, and sometimes it was blatantly obvious. But he seemed to know just what to say to make her realize how childish her very thoughts were.

Like her promise to her father's grave. It was a stupid promise. Her father really did still find a way to summon, even without a leg and an arm. She didn't know exactly what to think anymore, because the more she thought about the argument, the more right Kakashi seemed.

How could someone be so right?

She pushed her messy hair out of her face. "Thank you again, for helping me earlier." She told Naruto, and she was surprised to see him laugh, blush, and rub the back of his neck.

"Oh, it was nothing!" he said, seeming to be extremely embarrassed.

Kagome persisted, "It was very kind of you. If you hadn't helped me, I'd still be up on the mountain."

Naruto seemed to be even more embarrassed, and his nervous laugh became a little louder. "Yeah, but," he laughed, still rubbing the back of his neck, "I'd be a pancake if you didn't help me."

Kakashi said, "Kagome, this is the 'Naruto' that your patient is looking for."

Kagome tried not to yell at Kakashi again for not telling her sooner that he was him. Instead, she focused her attention on Naruto, trying to remember only what she had to in order to keep her mind from her argument with Kakashi.

"Naruto-san," she said formally, her fidgeting reduced to a minimum as she concentrated on her patient's words. He knew something about the Yobidasu clan—and had some kind of warning. Kakashi said it might be as easy as getting Naruto to talk to her patient in order to get that information. "I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may be to you," she apologized, "but I need you to please talk to my patient."

"Talk to your patient?" Naruto questioned. "What should I talk about?"

"He knows something about the Yobidasu clan… I think he has a warning for us, but he won't tell anyone but 'Naruto'. Kakashi-kun thinks that you're the one he's been calling for." Kagome watched Naruto blink rapidly. "Please?" she asked.

"I… I guess I can." Naruto said, though he didn't know why he was being called for. He was sure he wouldn't know the person. Or maybe he would know them… he'd met a lot of people in the last two and a half years. "Um, where is he?"

Kagome nodded. "I'm staying at an inn near here." She bowed respectfully to Tsunade before hurrying out of the room with Naruto in tow.

xXx

Once she was gone, Tsunade turned to Kakashi with a short look on her face.

"Are you sure it's okay to let her go alone? I thought you said she had a terrible sense of direction?" Tsunade inquired.

Kakashi was smirking, though it could be seen only in his eyes due to the mask on his face. "She's focusing now. She'll have no problem getting there."

Jiraiya added, "Well, either way… if she gets lost, Naruto is with her, and he'll realize eventually that she doesn't have a clue where she is going."

Kakashi turned to leave, but Tsunade's voice stopped him in his tracks. "A moment, if you will?" she asked. Kakashi turned his head to look at the Hokage. Jiraiya still leaned casually in the corner of the room, but when Tsunade had stopped Kakashi, he moved forward.

"Yes?" Kakashi inquired.

Tsunade frowned. "I want to know how you knew her. Fifteen years ago, if my memory serves me correctly, all Konoha-Yobidasu members were exiled. Konoha dropped all ties to the Yobidasu after the Kyuubi incident."

Kakashi shrugged. "Konoha dropped all ties to the Yobidasu fifteen years ago. Before that, I had gone many times to the Shrine with Kyo-sensei."

Tsunade cracked her knuckles in irritation. She turned to look out the window, almost as though if she looked at Kakashi much longer, she'd beat his noggin for the lack of information he was providing. "She's fifteen, and if my information is correct, she was born _after_ the Kyuubi incident." Tsunade's voice took on a dangerous tone. "Does this mean you **did not **drop ties to those exiled?"

"I was near there on a mission three years ago and met her." Kakashi explained vaguely. "Kyo-sensei specifically asked that Konoha not blame the Yobidasu for what happened."

Jiraiya said thoughtfully, "The Fourth also specifically asked that Naruto be viewed a hero, not a monster… Didn't he?"

"She's a good girl. She's not the greatest of Summoners, but she has potential." Kakashi said firmly. "She is not a monster, and neither is Naruto." His visible eye glinted slightly. "Kyo-sensei asked for very little in exchange for his life: just that his son be loved and cared for. Instead, Naruto was brought up as far as learning to feed himself and then tossed out on the street like a rat." Kakashi's voice never left a soft murmur.

Both Tsunade and Jiraiya looked stunned at that. Neither of them had been in the village long during that period of time. They had both been gone for years at a time, and no one could find them. Only in the recent years had they returned.

"Because of my connection to Kyo-sensei and the Yobidasu, the Third asked me to leave raising Naruto to someone else. I was against it, but in the end, I was kept so busy with missions I could not care for Naruto. By the time Naruto became Genin it was too late and he had been alone. I told the Third I would oversee Naruto's training—_that_ is the reason why I became Team 7's leader." Kakashi glanced at them both, anger apparent in his black eye.

Jiraiya said with certainty, "I'm not arguing against you, Kakashi. I'm merely pointing out that superstitions are very high. Anyone who is old enough to remember who the Yobidasu are will know with certainty she is one by her ceremonial robes."

Kakashi closed his eyes momentarily. In an almost inaudible voice, he said, "She walked through a village on the way here and got rocks thrown at her. Those people had never seen her before and yet they presumed her a monster because she was wearing her ceremonial robes. It's hard for her to be motivated enough to develop her potential for Summoning if all she'll get is cruel treatment."

Jiraiya scratched his head as Kakashi turned fully to face the two. Tsunade said, "She didn't come here to search our Genin, according to her. She said something happened that dissolved the agreement talks between ourselves and the Yobidasu within the last three years. Do you know what that was?"

"I do," Kakashi acknowledged the question with a nod. "Whether or not I'll tell you depends on how far you're willing to go to get that information. I can see her logic not to speak of it."

Tsunade whirled around, her frustration rising. "Why is it that everyone is so determined to defy me? I am only asking for information!"

Jiraiya shrugged. "You're trying to cage a beast here, Tsunade. If you look at it from Kakashi's view, he would be betraying the girl's trust if he told, and who knows what that might do to her?… Besides… he's not the only one keeping secrets around here."

Tsunade snapped, "What _are_ you talking about Jiraiya?"

"The Council of Elders did make the order to keep the Uzumaki lineage a secret from Naruto, didn't they?" Jiraiya looked almost like a Cheshire cat as he asked Tsunade a last question. "And…just why did they do that?"

Tsunade deflated. "They were superstitious," she admitted. "They thought if he knew, there may be more of a chance that he would become a Summoner."

Kakashi asked, "Will that be all?" Tsunade frowned but nodded reluctantly, and Kakashi disappeared.

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**Thank you **regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Hiei's Cute Girl **(Sesshoumaru will get more lines later, maybe...but it's not a SessKag, so he kind of needs to just shut up or it may end up SessKag...ack...)**, Shinigami **(I put in the extra stuff with with the Kakashi/Tsunade/Jiraiya conversation for your benefit. I hope it answered some of your questions!)**, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami **(Thanks!! Again!!)**, Kagome Lady of Darkness, Mz Mischief **(I'm not sure if you got my response, but which one is ruffling her feathers again? Kakashi or the patient? They both seem to be doing a marvelous job!)**, Dark Inu Fan** (Uh oh...You've come to prowl Koumajutsu too... I begin to wonder if I could write a story you wouldn't read... Perhaps I should test that out?)**, KuroxTenshi, Ashuri Nikouru, Tashio, vampiric instincts **(slow down, my friend! I'm getting there...You're a little ahead of me...)**, larkagurl2** (I'm going by whatever information is in wikipedia. It never mentioned a real name, so I took the liberty to make one up! But thanks for the information. I'll keep it in mind for the next Naruto xover...though I probably won't cll him no flashyness name--I did see that name on wikipedia--since that's uber long!)**, foxs woman **(I worked hard on that argument!)**, lildevil0644 **(looks like she found out!)**, and MiyamuraReina **(did I respond to you? Ack...I can't remember! But She did not know.)** **for your reviews! **

**Whew, I'm way out of breath on that one. Maybe I should separate that? Nah, technically it's not supposed to be there in the first place. I'll delete it once I post next chapter. Thanks so much again everyone! Waiting a whole weekend did get me a lot of reviews! Maybe I'll wait a week this time... What do you think?**

_That darn review button is urging you to press it... it says 'Push me...Push me...' and you know you want to do it. It is like a calling in the depths of your soul to push that button, and review a nice little review..._


	8. Warning Naruto

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter eight: Warning Naruto

Jiraiya looked at the slip of paper Kakashi had given Tsunade. His eyes flickered momentarily as he read the contents before he looked at Tsunade. "If this is true, are you sure it's safe to let Naruto go see him?"

Tsunade's brows came together slightly in frustration. "I don't think it's a good idea at all, any more than I believe Kakashi really cut his ties to the Yobidasu. Something is bothering me about this whole situation. There's not enough information, and for him to suddenly come back like this…"

"Tsunade-sama, who is it?" Shizune asked.

Jiraiya was the one who responded when Tsunade only frowned deeper. "Uchiha, Sasuke." He said, and that summed the situation up on its own.

Tsunade said, "Jiraiya. Shizune. I want the two of you to discretely keep an eye on the situation. If Uchiha makes even the slightest aggressive move…_kill him_…" Her tone warned both Jiraiya and Shizune that she was deadly serious. As they were leaving, Tsunade added, "Oh… and _if_ it should happen that you need to take extreme measures… and _if_ Kakashi should happen to interfere… Do not hold back on regard to his safety. If he interferes, consider it a betrayal of Konoha."

Jiraiya and Shizune were rather uncomfortable with the situation, but the nodded and left. Tsunade turned to the window again only a few seconds later, but was startled to find Kakashi sitting on her sill, reading one of the Make Out Paradise books—the latest installment that Naruto had given him.

As Kakashi turned the page, he commented lightly, "Kill me, huh? Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems to be a little harsh."

Tsunade tried to still her fast-beating heart. She didn't know what had happened, or how it happened, but somehow Kakashi was a different man entirely from what he used to be. She couldn't even figure out when it happened…no, that was also incorrect. The minute Kakashi found out that Higurashi, Kagome was in Konoha, he had changed.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, nothing short of polite. Still, he never looked away from the book. "I did drop my ties to the Yobidasu, but what I have for them is nothing short of respect. If the Kyuubi incident hadn't happened, then I would have been bestowed the honor of becoming a member of the Yobidasu clan. Unfortunately or fortunately, no one but Kyo-sensei, Reitle-sensei, and the Third Hokage knew at the time about my training. After Kyo-sensei gave his life, the Third told me it would be best if I remained with Konoha, in case Kyuubi ever were to be freed."

Tsunade growled at the implications of his words, but he corrected her line of thought—still seeming more interested in his book than anything. "Oh, I never became a member. Funny, that. I stayed for Naruto, my sensei's son, not Kyuubi. Quite technically, I was only three days from my ceremonial judgment."

"Are you telling me"—Tsunade started, but Kakashi managed to cut her off while still being respectful.

"I'm telling you how it is. You were questioning my loyalties. Now you know; they lay in the Yobidasu, and in Uzumaki, Naruto—son of my sensei. Do not believe Uchiha, Sasuke to be a weakness for me. I wouldn't trust the boy as far as I could throw him, but I am quite certain"—he lifted his eye to meet Tsunade's frown—"that he will not act against Konoha again…"

"How do you know, if you can't trust him?" Tsunade demanded softly, almost stunned silent by this stranger before her. Was this really Kakashi?

"I know because he would never talk to Naruto if he would. Two inches from death, Sasuke asked for _Naruto_. Now coherent, he still asks for him. Naruto is all he has left. Let Naruto take care of Sasuke, and perhaps you may have a remarkable shinobi once more on your side."

Then with that cryptic bit of advice, Kakashi again disappeared as though he'd never really been there. She ran over what he'd said in her mind; it all seemed to add up to one thing. If Naruto hadn't been in Konoha, Kakashi would have gone to the Yobidasu years ago.

Hatake, Kakashi wasn't in Konoha because he gave a damn about the people, or because he wanted missions. He wasn't fulfilling the Third's request that he stay for the sake of the people in the event that Kyuubi got free of the seal.

Tsunade walked over to a filing cabinet in the room and pulled open the drawer, Jounin—H. Hatake, Kakashi's file came easily and she opened it, reviewing the contents. She flipped to the earlier days in the file, after Kakashi became a Genin. He trained under Uzumaki, Kyo. It did mention something about "Special Training".

Tsunade looked closer at the file, reading carefully. "Special Training Request By Uzumaki, Kyo. Approved. Special Training Instructor: Tengomi, Reitle. Classified. Records To Be Withheld." That was all it said about it. She flipped through the pages of the file, but there was nothing more. However, it did say enough to the truth of what Kakashi had said. "Tengomi" alone was enough to prove he'd been trained in the Yobidasu.

Furious that she had not realized it sooner, Tsunade slammed the filing cabinet drawer shut. Everything started simply unraveling in Konoha since that girl came.

xXx

"So how long do you think this'll take, Kagome-san?" Naruto asked the girl with full respect toward her. He honestly believed her to be a good person, and after witnessing her summoning a giant dragon, he simply knew she wasn't any ordinary person. Once he'd found out she was a Yobidasu, his tongue nearly froze. He had questions, so many that he didn't know what to ask first. He wanted to ask them all.

"I hope not too long," Kagome responded, holding his hand and half pulling him behind him as she raced and weaved around the people in the street. She wasn't really running, but he hardly considered their pace a leisurely stroll. "But," Kagome continued, pausing on the street for a moment, looking left and right as though trying to gauge her direction before she dragged him down a left side-street, "I'm going to ask you to try to stay calm with him."

"Stay calm?" Naruto asked, picking his pace up when she did so he wouldn't be holding her back. "What kind of warning is that? Who are you taking me to see anyway?"

"No clue," Kagome said in a semi-cheerful voice. "I don't know who he is. But he's got the kind of attitude that just makes you want to punch him," he could feel her anger practically radiating away from that sweet smile of hers, "so try staying calm, okay?"

"It's just an injured guy," Naruto told her. "I'm pretty good at not hitting injured guys, no matter what kind of attitude they have."

Kagome came to an abrupt stop—so abrupt, he ran into her and nearly sent her face first into the ground. If he hadn't steadied her arm, she would have. She didn't seem to pay any attention to the half-embrace they ended up in; her attention was on the sign to the inn. "Well, if you can promise not to get mad, I'll let you see him alone. He specifically said he would talk to no one but you."

Naruto really wasn't sure how to respond, so he settled for saying nothing. It was probably better, since she was dragging him into the inn and up the stairs. They went to the third floor and she entered the room. He assumed he was supposed to follow, so he entered and glanced around.

It was an ordinary inn room. He'd stayed in hotels and inns before in other cities, but most of them were simple, cheap hotels that Jiraiya had chosen. This one was a cozy little one and it even had two box spring beds, one near the window and the other across from it on the inner wall. Blue sheets covered the beds and a spare futon roll was laid out beside the bathroom door.

The occupants of the room numbered three; one was a man with crow-black hair tied back at the nape of his neck like a dragon-tail. He wore robes of black and a deep purple. When he glanced up at Naruto, he did so with dark brown eyes. It was a little difficult to see his true physique because of the flowing garments he wore, but Naruto hazarded a guess at nothing short of an able-body. He looked a few years older than Naruto, but not that many.

Sitting beside the man and playing cards with him was a young woman. She also looked up from the card game, her chocolate eyes glancing at Kagome with worry apparent in them. She wore a pink and white kimono, and over the bottom half of her kimono was a light green wrap. Her hair was long and black, pulled back in a tight pony-tail.

"Kagome-chan," she said, before looking at Naruto. "I didn't expect you back so soon. I thought you'd want time to cool off after you saw the Hokage."

The third member was standing by the window, dressed in a plain white robe. Naruto could see no visible skin on him from the angle, but the thin reflection in the glass of the window showed black eyes. He was also the attention of Kagome.

"Sango-chan, what is this? Can't you stop a weakened shinobi whiny brat from getting out of bed?" Sango, Naruto guessed was the woman, flushed slightly. She didn't seem to be the attention of the anger though.

The man set his cards down. "Kagome-sama," he started, clearing his throat slightly. "He was very insistent upon standing."

Naruto watched Kagome's fists clench and unclench as her fury started rising. "I can see that!" Kagome marched forward, stopping a few feet from her patient. "I told you not to move until I got back to help you lay down. That doesn't mean get up and walk about!"

The patient was silent, and did not turn away from the window that looked down onto the street. "Kagome-chan," Sango said, her voice laced with concern, "who is this?" She glanced at Naruto, but Kagome didn't answer her.

Kagome reached out and grasped the patient by his forearm, just beneath his elbow. "I already told you," the small woman told the tall patient, "I'm not giving up on you! I don't care if you want to die! Please…" She finished off softly, "_Please_ just lay down…"

The patient was a full head taller than Kagome, but she wasn't intimidated by that difference. Silence filled the room for a moment before the patient turned slowly and leaned his head close to Kagome's ear. He whispered something that the others could not hear, and as he whispered, his black eyes came into contact with Naruto's bright blue ones.

Naruto felt frozen to the spot as recognition stabbed his heart. He didn't need a voice, or a body, or a face to recognize who that was. Not with the eyes that were burned right into his mind. Not with the constant image of those black eyes closing and opening with the red and black of the Sharingan eyes.

When Kagome backed away from the 'patient', Naruto almost felt like growling in anger. He hadn't realized how much anger and frustration he would feel when he finally met Sasuke—the _deserter_, the traitor!—again. Suddenly, Kagome's warning became all-too-real and he had to steel himself back from doing what he desperately wanted to do.

Kagome turned, looking incredibly frustrated. "Fine!" Kagome snapped. "But you better keep that promise!" She looked at Naruto, but he barely recognized her stare. He was too busy gritting his teeth and at the same time, staring dumbly in confusion at his best friend.

And then Kagome and the other two people were gone. Sasuke stood by the window, his hands folded at ease behind his back. Neither of them said anything for a moment. It felt like forever. Naruto finally let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd held.

"Sasuke," he heard himself whisper.

The patient raised his hand to his head where the bandage was tied. He slowly untied it and unwound it from his flesh. The bandage covered his head and neck, and once it was off, he simply dropped it to the floor. Once it was gone, he had revealed a scarred face. Two slashes intersected just on the bridge of his nose. The top part of each slash rose across his forehead and into a head of black stubble; someone had shaved his hair off. The bottom half of the slashes followed his cheekbones and stopped beneath his earlobes.

The minute the soiled bandages were removed, the stitched injury started to bleed sluggishly, dripping down his face. Naruto got the feeling that was only the start of the injuries, and that there would be many more, just like it or worse, on the rest of him.

Still, Naruto's anger did not recede in the slightest. "What did you tell her?" Naruto demanded suddenly, not sure why it mattered. The words sprang to his lips before he could stop them.

Sasuke's lips spread in a slow smirk. "Wouldn't you just _love_ to know?"

Naruto took a step forward toward Sasuke, clenching his fist. "_What_ did you _say_?" He really wasn't sure why it bothered him as much as it did. He'd only met Kagome earlier that morning, and even he couldn't grow attached to a person so quickly. So he chalked it off as frustration toward Sasuke.

She was certainly right about one thing though: his voice simply made a person want to punch him.

Sasuke shrugged. "Alright, if you're going to get pissy about it, I told her if she left for an hour, I'd let her heal me. It won't matter either way; I'll be dead within the hour."

Naruto scowled. "So you'll break another promise, huh? You don't seem to be too much of a man of your word anymore." He took another glance at his old friend and clucked his tongue much like Shikamaru always did. "Let me rephrase that…" he corrected, "You don't seem to be much of a man anymore."

Anger flashed through Sasuke's eyes, but he paused before retaliating harshly. He got right down to business, "Orochimaru wants you."

"Yeah, well," Naruto found himself furiously holding Sasuke against the wall and wasn't very aware how he ended up like that. One hand was around Sasuke's throat, the other was pressing his shoulder into the wall. Sasuke's fingers twitched as if he wanted to react, but he simply wheezed under the pressure. "Why don't you go back to your master and tell him to fuck off? It's just like you said: I'm not like you."

Sasuke wheezed, "Let me finish before you rip my damn head off. We're being watched through the window, and I don't doubt they know who I am. If I move, most likely they'll kill me before I have the chance to warn you."

Naruto paused for a few seconds, contemplating whether or not he should let go. He did, but his hands itched to be back where they were. Eyes narrowed, he turned to the window and glanced out. Jiraiya was blatantly obvious, standing on the neighboring roof. There was a troubled look on his face. When Naruto met Jiraiya's eyes, he grabbed the curtains and defiantly closed them.

Sasuke rubbed his neck slightly. "When I went to Orochimaru, I didn't know right away what his true plans for me were. I'm usually fairly sharp on picking things like that up, but it never really occurred to me."

Naruto turned a glare on Sasuke. His old friend wasn't looking at him. "You hit Sakura, you low-life, backstabbing prick!" he spat, using some of the colorful words he'd learned on the road with Jiraiya.

"I was afraid of you. That's why I had to leave in the first place." The confession sent Naruto's anger into a state of shock. Silence filled the room, and Naruto tried to wrap his mind around that. Naruto was the reason? Naruto had pushed his best friend away? What did he do?

"You were getting to be so strong. I went up against Itachi and I couldn't even land a hit. But it was you that Itachi was after. He wanted you, not me. He never saw me as a threat. But you saw me as your greatest rival, and you were determined to beat me. When we fought on the hospital roof, I was happy to have blown a hole in the water tower while you had only made a tiny leak…" Sasuke let his hand lift to the 'x' on his face, brushing at the blood trickling over his eyes.

"What?" Naruto couldn't help but be confused.

Sasuke continued, "But then I saw the back of the water tower you hit. You'd blown a hole clear out of the back, and the water was just gushing out of it. I felt weak, and I feared you—I still do, with great reason for it."

"What are you…what are you talking about?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke shook his head. "When the Sound-nin came to me, they had a proposal. Orochimaru would make me stronger, using the power of this cursed seal on my neck. It seemed implicit that I would have some greater purpose; why else would Orochimaru want to help me? I just figured it would be something stupid, like the invasion of Konoha, which would never work anyway. And meanwhile, I could get stronger and eventually defeat Itachi."

"Invading Konoha isn't 'something stupid'!" Naruto finally was able to come to his senses, pull himself out of his shock and say that. "It's a serious offense! How the hell can you speak so calmly of it?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I can't allow myself to get heated up about things anymore…not ever…" he turned his black eyes on Naruto. "Emotions are useless to someone who can't feel pain." Again he lifted his hand to his head and brushed away the blood. "It… it doesn't hurt at all. It just feels wet on my flesh."

That made Naruto pause. "You can't feel that?"

"No," Sasuke admitted. He looked at the blood on his long, pale fingers and sighed. "Then, two years ago I heard Kabuto and Orochimaru talking about taking over my body. I was going to run away then, but they said Orochimaru required two more years before he could do anything. I thought of you, and how you never gave up something you set your mind to, and I couldn't bring myself to come back as a failure. I told myself I'd keep training under Orochimaru until the last possible second, and then slip away."

Naruto felt his shock simply fade into frustration again. Sasuke said emotions were useless if he couldn't feel pain…why had he smirked earlier? Was it an emotion or just a façade? He forced himself to stay where he was or he knew he might try testing the 'no pain' theory. Somehow, Sasuke's voice still set his teeth on edge.

"About a month or so ago, I heard Kabuto and Orochimaru talking again… They were talking about the Yobidasu—they're a clan of Summoners."

"I know who they are," Naruto insisted, though he still knew very little about them.

"Then that makes this a whole lot easier," Sasuke murmured. "Orochimaru wants you for the special ability you have, which is related to the Yobidasu." Naruto tried not to look confused, and Sasuke pushed himself away from the wall, turning his full body to look at Naruto. "Not many people have it. It's not transferred through genetics like the Sharingan or the Byakugan. It's the ability to perform a Summon jutsu called 'Koumajutsu'."

"You mean, the Summoning Demons technique?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded slightly. "So you've heard of that too?" He didn't wait for a response. "Koumajutsu requires the ability to see…_something_… I don't know what. But whatever it is you see, you use a more powerful form of chakra to cut it."

"Maryoku." Naruto nodded. He certainly was coming into contact with a lot of that sort of information lately. Kyuubi had called him Summoner, so certainly that must be what he was talking about. Whatever it was that could be seen, somehow Kyuubi knew Naruto could see it.

Sasuke shrugged, "I'm unaware what cutting it does, in particular, but I do know that somehow it brings a Summoned Creature from what I presume to be another dimension into this world. Orochimaru wants you for that ability, and he wanted to use me to get it."

"How could he use you?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's eyes flashed red for a moment before returning to the original black color. "The Sharingan can copy anything. All he would need is to take my body and use the Sharingan to watch you Summon."

"Why wouldn't he just take over my body?" Naruto asked. "Seems a waste of time to use you."

Sasuke explained, "With Kyuubi in you, the only other option would be to copy. I've come to warn you not to _ever_ use koumajutsu. I hope you can forgive me for what I did to Konoha…"

Naruto felt his eyes narrow and glared at Sasuke. "First of all, I don't need your warnings." He drew himself up and he could hear pleased murmurings in his mind as Kyuubi congratulated him. "And second of all… I don't forgive the _dead_. Get a life, and then ask for forgiveness." He stalked to the door and left, slamming it behind him.

Kagome was downstairs in the lobby, and Naruto smiled at her even though he really wasn't in the mood for smiling. She looked so worried. "Is everything alright, Naruto-san?" she asked. Again she was biting her lip just like she warned him not to do.

He reached out and gently pinched her chin enough to make her release the abused appendage. "You shouldn't worry your lip," he chided, "someone could easily startle you, and then you'd bite it." Her look of worry eased into a smile, and he guessed he had pulled off a reliable fake-happiness. "Everything's fine." He assured her.

She nodded. "That's good news, at least. I worried it might be bad news. Is it anything I should worry about?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing you need to worry about." He scratched the back of his neck slightly. "Can I ask you a favor?" he worried if asking her was too much, and decided to let her have her own opinion instead of making the decision for her and simply not asking.

"Sure, Naruto-san, what can I do for you?"

Naruto turned his eyes back to the stairs he'd just come down. "His name is Uchiha, Sasuke, and he…" he frowned, "He used to be a good friend of mine."

"_Used_ to be?" Kagome asked with interest. "What happened, if I can ask?"

He nodded, "Well, I am asking you a favor after all." Naruto admitted. "Three years ago, he left Konoha…to, er… train…" He scratched the back of his neck again, wishing it didn't sound so lame. He could tell she wasn't buying it, so he hastened on to his point. "He heard some stuff, and thinks I can be a Summoner." She seemed to turn a little pale, and looked a little guilty. "I was just wondering…if maybe you'd teach me how to do that summoning thing, sometime…?"

She was quiet for a long time and he watched her as she seemed to contemplate the advantages and disadvantages of his request. Finally he finished, "Or, if maybe…I don't know, if the other Yobidasu could teach me?"

Kagome finally looked at him, and sighed. "I'll, I'll ask," she conceded finally.

He smiled broadly at her. If he had an ability, he was going to develop it to its full potential, to better protect Konoha and its citizens. "Thanks, Kagome-sensei!" He couldn't help but laugh at her slight embarrassment at the name. He waved and ran off, wondering if Sasuke realized yet that only his words had _really_ motivated Naruto to even explore thoughts of koumajutsu other than 'it's cool'.

Only a few seconds later did he return to stand in front of Kagome. "Oh, by the way," he said, "I don't know if you know this, but Sasuke can't feel pain. He said so himself. It just doesn't seem like something you already knew." And then he left a bewildered Kagome with a look of dawning growing on her features.

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**Thank you everyone for your reviews! It's much appreciated! **Emron The Dragon King (How did you guess?), Shinigami (I suppose we'll find out in later chapters if that happens), Logrus Mage, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I really thought it was an argument...my, my, how wrong I was...), KuroxTenshi, Kagome Lady of Darkness, sesshoumarukagomeforever23 (are there 22 other sesshoumarukagomeforever's? Just curious... Kagome may or may not get new clothes, that's all I'll say for now), lildevil0644, and Ashuri Nikouru.

You know, I was reading some other crossovers, and I can't help but laugh at how similar each story's Lee and Gai characters behave. Fun. Thanks for reading again, and please visit that blue-purple button!

_It wants you to...it says, 'Kiss me, hold me, love me, touch me, please caress me then dispatch me...' and you say, 'Oh, oh, I'm attracted to you...' What? It's a song...Might even be a real song, but I only know the techno version._


	9. Asissting Death

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter nine: Assisting Death

Sango had left Kagome at the inn again, explaining that she wanted to find a blacksmith to sharpen her katana. Miroku had left shortly after, but not before groping both Kagome and the young lady running the desk of the inn. He left with two red cheeks.

When both of them were gone, Kagome sat down in the lobby to wait. She chatted leisurely with the inn girl, but only a few minutes passed before the inn girl had to do some actual work. So she sat there, fiddling with the hem of her flowing sleeve. It was a long wait, but she watched the clock diligently.

When the hour had passed, Kagome was going to go upstairs immediately, but decided to wait just five more minutes. When those five minutes had passed, she debated internally whether she could wait anymore—she did say she would let Naruto talk to her patient alone—but it was so hard not knowing what was going on up there.

A few minutes later, Naruto had come down the steps and she could tell from one glance at him that he was furious. When he met her eyes, though, he smiled. She could still see the strain in the smile, and that told her he was forcing it. She worried that her patient might have angered him, and she found herself both annoyed that her patient was so irritating and worried that whatever happened might be bad.

"Is everything alright," she asked him, "Naruto-san?"

She didn't realize she was biting her lip until he pinched her chin. Immediately she stopped, and he said, "You shouldn't worry your lip," yet again, just like she'd done to him, "someone could easily startle you, and then you'd bite it." She felt relieved that he could tease her like that, and certain that whatever it was that had happened up in the room wasn't going to completely affect Naruto. "Everything's fine," he said then.

Kagome nodded. "That's good news, at least," she told him, but there was still the issue of how her patient had mentioned the 'Yobidasu'. She needed to know, so she asked him. "I worried it might be bad news. Is it anything I should worry about?"

He shook his head for a moment before scratching the back of his neck. "No, nothing you need to worry about. Can I ask you a favor?"

She knew she couldn't ever refuse the nervous look in his eyes. He seemed indecisive about even asking, so she said, "Sure, Naruto-san, what can I do for you?"

He looked at the stairs and said, "His name is Uchiha, Sasuke"—Sasuke sounded like a perfect name for a guy who acted like a jerk and whose very voice set her teeth on edge—"and he…" Naruto paused for a moment to frown, "He used to be a good friend of mine."

That perked Kagome's interest, and she found herself recalling something her patient, Sasuke, had said while she was changing his bandages. He'd been coherent enough to answer her question—if he wanted to—so she had asked him, _Why do you want to speak with Naruto? Who is he?_

Sasuke's response had been, _Because we have…a bond._

Kagome thought about that now and realized it was most likely that Sasuke had originally intended to say something else, but at the last moment had changed what he was going to say. So she asked Naruto, "_Used_ to be? What happened, if I can ask?"

"Well, I am asking you a favor after all." Naruto said as he nodded again. "Three years ago, he left Konoha…" there it was again…that hesitant pause… "to, er… train…" Kagome's mind replaced 'train' with something Sasuke had called himself. _Deserter_. "He heard some stuff, and thinks I can be a Summoner." She felt her stomach sink into her feet and incredible guilt weighed her tongue. "I was just wondering…if maybe you'd teach me how to do that summoning thing, sometime…?"

Immediately her words froze in her mouth. She didn't know what to tell him. She was positive if he knew what had happened with Kagome's sister only three years earlier, he wouldn't be requesting it. And not only that, but even if she said she would teach him he would have to get permission from the Hokage which was unlikely. All she would be doing was letting him down when she eventually had to say no.

But her heart wanted her to say 'yes'. She wanted to believe it would be the right thing to do to revive the Yobidasu clan. She wouldn't need her bloodline to revive it. In fact, it had been proven that not every Higurashi could Summon. Kagome's younger brother and her mother had been unable to Summon.

But there _were_ people out there who could do it; they just needed to be found and taught! She wanted to say yes, but logic told her that no was the only possible answer. She'd already promised the Hokage that she didn't come to look for Summoners.

Kagome snapped to attention when Naruto spoke again. "Or, if maybe…I don't know, if the other Yobidasu could teach me?"

She sighed. "I'll, I'll ask," she said, looking at him though she felt like a rat for it. There was _no one_ else to ask. She and Sango were all that was left, and it wasn't up to Sango. Kagome was the leader of their clan now, so it was her choice. Beside that, Sango knew nothing of Summoning—ultimately, it was Kagome's decision.

Naruto smiled broadly at her and she felt like a crude jerk. He looked so happy. "Thanks, Kagome-sensei!" When she blushed because of the name, he laughed, waved, and ran off. She was about to go back up to the room when Naruto came back at full-speed. "Oh, by the way," he blurted out, "I don't know if you know this, but Sasuke can't feel pain." She was startled by that news. It was just like her papa. He couldn't feel pain either.

Naruto continued, "He said so himself. It just doesn't seem like something you already knew." He took off again, but Kagome's mind was working overtime, processing everything she knew about Sasuke—and now Naruto. Her feet carried her up the stairs to the third floor and she entered the room.

She glanced at her patient. He was sitting on the bed, staring at his bandaged hands as though he had failed to do something and couldn't believe it. She found it easier to smile all of a sudden.

Sasuke and Naruto were rivals. That was very interesting news… She could use that to her advantage. And Naruto had given her a perfect opportunity; he had lain it in metaphorical stone. She wasn't going to waste it.

Kagome walked over to the bed where she'd dropped her knapsack earlier and pulled it open. She took out the kunai, making a mental reminder (that it was likely to be forgotten) to trade the kunai in for a regular dagger with a sheath. She'd been meaning to do that for at least five years now.

She took the kunai over to Sasuke and showed it to him. "So," she said rather flippantly, "how do you want to go about doing this?" Internally she worried about the wounds on his face. He was still bleeding, and if he bled out then there would be no saving him.

She watched as Sasuke looked up at her, a startled look on his features. "What?" he asked her quietly, and also slightly suspicious of her. She didn't bother to note that if she were him, she'd be suspicious of her too.

"Well, I haven't got all day!" she huffed dramatically. "Now, I'm pretty sure Naruto-san would take the kunai and run at the wall with it, so you could do that I suppose." He looked utterly confused and she let a thoughtful look cross her features. "But then again, Naruto-san _might_ be the framing type of person. I don't know for certain, since I hardly know him."

"What are you talking about?" his suspicion was gone, and he just looked a little flustered and completely mystified.

"Well, I'm talking about you dying of course. You want to do it so bad, and I'm only stopping you. So, I figure the least I could do is offer my assistance." She tapped her chin. "Now, if Naruto-san wanted to frame someone for murder, he could freeze the kunai's hilt in a block of ice and fall backwards on it. But that would take a while. Still, you wouldn't have to worry about the pain, since Naruto-san said you can't feel pain."

"Wha—" he blinked at her.

She pressed the hilt into his hands. "Come on, now. I haven't got all day. Naruto-san asked me to teach him how to use koumajutsu, so now you're just wasting _everyone's_ time. Start brainstorming." She hadn't actually told Naruto she _would_ teach him, but of course, Sasuke didn't know that.

Sasuke's jaw dropped. "You know how to use it?" he almost squeaked.

"Of course I do," she shrugged, internally congratulating herself on her as-of-yet job well done. She knew she should have been an actor. "I mean, I _am_ a Yobidasu Summoner, after all. Now, let's just get back on track here before we get off subject. If you _really_ wanted it, I suppose I could talk Miroku into helping you up onto a tall building. I've heard it's a peaceful way to fall, at least until you splatter on the pavement. Since you don't feel pain, it would be peaceful."

"Wait," he stood up, clutching the kunai's hilt with one arm as his other hand grabbed her forearm. "You can Summon?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at him, tacking a pleasant smile on her face. "We already went over that, Sasuke-san," she told him. "Yes, I can. After spending all this time with me, you should know that. Now, if you'd just get on track and help me figure out how you're going to die, I'm sure we can put together a suitable death for you."

Sasuke suddenly said, "You _can't_ teach him koumajutsu!"

Kagome pointed out, "Whether I can or cannot teach anyone anything isn't really the issue here. We need to kill you first, since you're so adamant about dying." It was working out better than she thought it would. She almost grinned but held it back just in time. She managed to keep that thoughtful look on her face.

Sasuke's grip on her arm tightened just a little. "If you teach him that, you risk jeopardizing everything I fought to escape Orochimaru for!"

She patted the hand on her arm gently. "Oh, don't you worry about that. You'll be dead anyway, and dead people don't need to worry about the living. It's one of the benefits of being dead. Now, focus here, okay? If you really want to bleed to death, I suppose you can. I know several Summon Exterminators who did that, although they didn't do it willingly. My great Aunt Magori told me bleeding to death is somewhat peaceful, though the wounds usually sting, and you'll fall unconscious before you die."

He stared at her, his black eyes so thoroughly confused she could tell she had already won his death battle. "Summon Exterminators?" he breathed softly.

Kagome let out a dramatic sigh and gently urged him to sit down on the bed again. "I can see we're getting absolutely nowhere here. You don't seem to be very good at brainstorming ways to die." She turned away from him and started walking toward the door. "Well, I'll just have to go get some ideas from the locals then, if you don't want to—"

He held up his hand, as though reaching out for her to stop her. "No, wait," he insisted. "Wait, what is a Summon Exterminator?"

Again, she let out a dramatic sigh and turned to look at her bleeding patient. "It's the Yobidasu clan's structural balance of power. There are Summoners and Summon Exterminators. Summon Exterminators keep the balance of power even so that Summoners can't go wrecking havoc all over the world. Now if you don't _mind_, I really need to get brainstorming for your death, since you so want to die."

He opened his mouth to say something, but blood loss got to him and his eyes began rolling. A few moments later, he passed out and she approached him. Placing her hand upon his chest, she began forming Maryoku and let it flow into his body. A wide smirk appeared on her features. She was right. Playing on his rivalry with Naruto had worked. And in doing so, she never made any promises that she couldn't keep…

A giggle escaped her lips. It worked so _well_. She would have to tell Sango all about how genius she had suddenly become.

Slowly his soul began accepting the healing of her Maryoku and his body started to heal. She couldn't do anything about the blood loss except prescribe a lot of sleep and healthy nutrition. But it had _worked_. Brilliant, truly brilliant.

Her giggle turned into a laugh.

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**Wahahaha! I can't believe how popular Koumajutsu has become! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your reviews! **fruitsbasketangel, Shinigami (ANSWER: If you keep asking me all these uber tough questions, my story might actually end up making some sense as I am forced to consider those very things you bring up! Although I can't answer you yet, sorry! That'd give things away), Hiei's Cute Girl (No problem. Glad you reviewed 8. Sesshoumaru should get more lines, but he really hasn't been in all that much yet), KibaSin (I hope this chapter granted your hopeful wish), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Natsumi-chan... you don't know what you're missing out...it's a good song...), KuroxTenshi (Isn't it though?), lildevil0644, Kyuubi madness, Logrus Mage (did he live? did he live? LIVE, DAMMIT, SASUKE!) ancient-relic (...nope, still not getting that first paragraph...)

RECOMMENDATION: Eat a bunch of freshmint tic tacs and then drink ice cold water. Then pay a visit to that blue-purple button...

_The button tells you sweet promises in your ear, in whispers that you're not sure you can stand to hear, because it sets your veins on fire, and you're filled from head to toe with the desire, to push that silly button, and leave me a little somethin'! _


	10. Hokage Training

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter ten: Hokage Training

Sasuke woke with a rather refreshed feeling filling his insides. He couldn't quite place what it was, but a glance at himself showed the bandages had been removed and he was no longer in the inn, but had been moved to a hospital room. Tubes and wires connected him to the machines in the room.

His brows came together as he started pulling the tubes from his body, and undoing the wires. He couldn't remember how he got there; that was the bad part. Once the pulse reader was removed from his finger, the monitor flat-lined in a rather annoying manner and he reached out to shut it off, pressing the button so it couldn't screech.

Once he was free, he inspected his body. He was garbed in an ordinary hospital linen gown. Scars showed beneath the bottom hem along his legs—all of the scars were 'x' shaped. Some of them were larger than others. Some were so small they almost seemed like dots at first glance.

The worst of the scars were on his torso and back, hidden beneath the linen gown. It wasn't more than thirty seconds after he'd started pulling the tubes out that the medic-nin came rushing in. She was a stern woman, but very petite. He couldn't think of her name, but he knew he recognized her.

Her hair was long now. "Sasuke-kun," she said, worry in her voice, "you need to be lying down." Ino, wasn't it? Yes, that had to be it. He couldn't help but notice that the hospital outfit was not her color.

"I need clothes," he told her. "The woman who was taking care of me… who is she and where is she?" He needed to talk to her. He remembered he was hearing about Summon Exterminators just before he blacked out. He needed to know more. He needed to stop Naruto from learning how to use koumajutsu, or he needed to be the one to block Orochimaru's path.

It sounded like he could do that as a Summon Exterminator.

"Kagome-san isn't here anymore. She left yesterday." Ino looked nervous, and he knew why. He was a traitor, and he supposed that detracted the appeal he used to have. Aside from that, he was scarred from head to foot. There were bound to be some negative side-effects to his plight. He was lucky he was in a hospital, not jail, although that was a question that flickered through his mind.

"Kagome…" he murmured, the name falling from his lips like silk. He met Ino's eyes with a hard stare. "Where did she go?"

"She went home, Sasuke-kun," Ino said. "Please get back into bed."

"I need clothes." He told her again.

She tossed her nervousness instantly, almost as if on cue with something—perhaps his tone? He smiled, his eyes closing half-way. Kabuto had been afraid of Sasuke's voice… Ino stepped forward into the room. "Sasuke-kun, no." she said firmly. "You will not leave this room."

He moved swiftly and stood directly behind her, watching as she looked back and forth, trying to locate him. He brought his hands up and rested them on her shoulders—she stiffened. He whispered in her ear, "Who will make me stay? You?"

"Actually, I have help," she said. He felt suddenly very tired. He turned around just in time to see another medic-nin with a syringe in her hand. Ino said smugly, "If you can't feel pain, you don't know you've been stuck. Reaction time is a lot slower that way, isn't it, Sasuke-kun?"

His smile was gone. He was tottering on his feet. The two caught him under the arms and helped him back into the bed. Unconsciousness was forced on him.

xXx

"So you've returned," Kyuubi chuckled darkly as the young man stood with his hands in his pockets before the large cage. Shikamaru wondered of his own sanity to have come back, but something told him this was _wrong_.

He was wet—again—from falling down the hole in the mountainside. It would also probably take him several hours to get back out, because even if he had memorized the way from the hole to Kyuubi and back again, he'd found that the hole was too high and the walls rejected chakra so climbing it was impossible.

He watched as Kyuubi prowled forward, once more leaning on the bars of the cage. He really was an incredible sight, but terrifying. "You." Shikamaru frowned, "You were in my head when the ANBU were questioning me."

Kyuubi's crimson eyes glinted mischievously. "Was I?" he asked, as if he were surprised to hear the news. "What would I do in your head?"

"You told me what to say." Shikamaru calmly reminded the creature.

"Did I?" Kyuubi asked again. He rubbed his fox-like ear against the bars, but his eyes remained on Shikamaru. "What did I say?"

Shikamaru glared at the creature, wondering what made him come back in the first place. Wasn't it him that had been so insistent upon leaving in the first place? Then why would he have come back at the first opportunity? "You told me what to say to the ANBU so I wouldn't give up Naruto. Why?"

"Was that me?" Kyuubi looked thoughtful.

Shikamaru felt himself growing frustrated very fast. "Quit playing games, Nine-Tails!" he snapped.

Kyuubi laughed. "Ah, the lazy one is growing a temper… I like it." Shikamaru almost felt like exploding in frustration. He was the type of person who didn't bother with things he couldn't understand, but something—he didn't know what—had brought him back down into this tunnel.

Just before Shikamaru could say anything, Kyuubi asked, "Did you come to remove the seal?" Confusion spread across Shikamaru's face, since he didn't know what he came for. "You know," Kyuubi pointed out, "the seal was only supposed to be there for as long as it took to kill my Summoner. But whatever."

Kyuubi tilted his face slightly. "What?" Shikamaru asked, now feeling rather nervous. What had brought him down here?

"I bet you could do it."

"Do what?" Shikamaru asked. "I'm not removing the seal."

"Oh, nevermind," Kyuubi pulled away from the gate. His footsteps retreated into the back of the cage, splashing as he walked. "You wouldn't be interested to begin with."

Shikamaru's feet took him fast away from Kyuubi. Somehow seeing Kyuubi in that cage was wrong to him. It shouldn't be; Kyuubi had killed countless people in a rampage fifteen years ago. Children were left without mothers and fathers because of Kyuubi.

So why did Kyuubi's imprisonment bother him so much? If he was free, he'd only do it again.

He barely made it more than a few feet away before Kyuubi's voice stopped him. He nearly planted his face in the floor he stopped so fast. "Your dream is to grow old with a woman and a few kids, isn't it?"

Shikamaru again questioned why he'd come down as he turned back to the cage. All he could see was two glinting crimson eyes. "What of it?" he found himself asking.

Kyuubi said, "I have a dream too…not that humans care."

Shikamaru was surprised. "You?"

"Indeed…" Kyuubi laughed, slight remorse in his voice. "Care to hear about it?" Shikamaru couldn't move. He wanted to, but his body wouldn't obey him. It felt like his dad had used the shadow technique on him, but he knew that was impossible—his dad wasn't anywhere near.

Kyuubi seemed to take his immobile form as a 'yes'. He said, "I want to see my mate again." Shikamaru was very stunned to hear something as dangerous as Kyuubi could have a mate. "She's the most beautiful thing ever. Her hair is like rays of the sun, hanging down to her waist. Her eyes are like glistening emeralds. Her skin is as beautiful as pure ivory, unblemished and softer than a feather touch." Kyuubi's voice was almost wistful. "Her lips are the purest red, and her curves are…mmm," he laughed.

Shikamaru took firm hold of himself and turned around. He walked away from the _monster_ of Konoha's past. As he walked away, Kyuubi said, "Too bad I'll die with Naruto as long as that seal remains in place."

xXx

Later that evening, Team Kakashi had a mission to go on. Naruto was very annoyed about it, but when Sakura came to get him from his apartment (he'd only just sat down with the journey log) he stuck the book beneath his pillow and went with her to see Tsunade.

He didn't like the fact that he wasn't getting any time to read, but he also knew taking it on the mission would likely end up in disaster. So instead, he decided to leave it behind. When Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto had assembled in Tsunade's office, they were briefed on the mission.

"It's an escort mission. You will meet up with the person on the Highway. The request was made last minute, so you'll need to leave as soon as possible. The girl has long black hair and dark blue eyes. She's small and will be carrying a dark green colored knapsack she purchased yesterday here in Konoha." Tsunade explained.

"What's her name, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked. Tsunade shared an odd look with Kakashi.

"Ah," Kakashi chuckled. "She grew on you, didn't she?"

"I really enjoyed her 'healing' tale." Tsunade also laughed. She continued, "Just make sure she gets home alright."

Tsunade seemed surprised when Naruto didn't complain about the mission. It was a low-level mission, entirely beneath his skill, but he didn't mind because that would mean it would take less time and he could get back to his book sooner. He didn't tell Tsunade _why_ he didn't mind, of course.

After the briefing, Tsunade asked Naruto to remain behind a moment. Kakashi and Sakura left, and Naruto looked at the Hokage. She looked troubled.

When she was silent for too long in his opinion, he said, "It's about Kagome-san's patient, isn't it?" Finally she nodded, her eyes filled with confusion. He sighed. "It's Sasuke." Naruto admitted.

"I know its Sasuke, Naruto." Tsunade said.

Tsunade stood slowly, her fingers running impatiently through her bangs. She walked around the new desk and placed her hand on his chin, turning his face to hers. He was confused at her behavior. It felt almost like she was searching his soul for something.

Then she asked him, "If I gave you the option to decide the fate of Sasuke, what would you do with him?"

Slightly taken aback by the question, he blinked. "Why?" he asked.

She smiled abruptly. "Maybe training for Hokage," she said. "Well? I'm only asking what you would do if you were in my place. It doesn't mean I'll do what you would."

Naruto pulled back from Tsunade, a frown marring his features as he remembered his encounter with Sasuke only yesterday. He could barely face Sakura—or any of his friends for that matter—after seeing Sasuke. He felt cheated because he had planned on doing whatever necessary to bring Sasuke back.

"Well," Naruto looked out the window of the Hokage's office. Night had settled—the city was settling down for an evening. "I think… I'd give him a bunch of annoying missions. Like finding cats and cleaning the stone faces. Why are you asking me anyway, if you're just going to do whatever?"

Tsunade shrugged. "You wouldn't send him to jail? He did desert Konoha."

Naruto shook his head. "He'd just get out anyway. I know it sounds like wishful thinking, but I don't think he's going to do it again." What could he tell her? That Sasuke had come back to warn Naruto about Orochimaru wanted _Naruto_ and not Sasuke? It would only hinder him. He would be tied to a post for the rest of his life, leashed like a dog, if Tsunade knew.

And if he told Naruto what Sasuke had said about running away in the first place, Tsunade would believe Naruto was just feeling guilty and taking the blame. Tsunade chuckled slightly. "It does sound wishful. I wish I could believe it."

Naruto looked at Tsunade. "It's a standard three years house arrest for running away, isn't it?" Tsunade nodded. He met her eyes, standing up straight as he made his request. "You could put Sasuke under house arrest, and _I_ would take responsibility for him."

"You?" Tsunade inquired curiously. "It wouldn't be unusual for someone to be put under house arrest for running away but they would have ANBU guards."

"But ANBU wouldn't know anything about Sasuke." Naruto pointed out.

"It wouldn't really matter," Tsunade said. "They would only have to watch him and stop him if he tries to run."

"Told you, you would just do whatever." Naruto said, glaring at her for a moment. "I've got a mission to go on." He told her and left the office. Tsunade watched him go curiously.

xXx

Kagome set the green knapsack on the ground beside the hot spring. It was a half-day's walk to civilization in both directions, and she'd left Konoha yesterday afternoon. After walking all night and riding in the mule cart all day, she was a little tired, not to mention being in a mule cart was a pain.

She'd left without Sango and Miroku, but she found she didn't mind. Miroku was going to Sunagakure and Sango was going to accompany him. Kagome knew Sango had feelings for the perverted monk, but also knew Sango had difficulty expressing that. So, knowing Sango was frustrated that Miroku was on his way to Sunagakure, Kagome had asked Miroku to allow Sango to accompany him.

Miroku had 'graciously' accepted the company. Sango hadn't been sure it was a good idea, but Kagome had assured her she would be alright on her own. After all, she told Sango, she could call Sesshoumaru if she got into trouble.

She wasn't entirely positive what motivated her to leave yesterday afternoon, instead of waiting until morning. Something urged her to be back at home. It was that _something_ that kept her walking through the night, and made her climb into the empty mule cart.

But now, she was sore all over, and exhausted. The mule cart was unhitched from the mule, and the mule was tied to a tree so he wouldn't go disappearing on her. She was in a secluded wooded area off the road and had a warm fire burning easily just a short way from the warm water.

Slowly she peeled off her dirty white and green skirt and her blouse. Next went her undergarments onto a growing pile. Once her clothes were off, she took the Shikon pendant off and set it carefully on her pile of clothes. She took the strange chain of semi-large silver bells from around her waist and set it on the pile. She had two anklets made of even very small silver bells and chain that she took off. Last she took off was the chain bracelets with medium-small silver bells.

She left the choker made of black silk around her neck. One silver bell, larger than all the others, hung from the black silk and it tinkled as she slid into the hot spring. She hadn't worn the bells for three years; Sango had still brought them on the trip though. Kagome was glad she hadn't been able to talk the stubborn woman out of it.

The bells were Kagome's Koumaberu, or Summoning bells. They were used to store level one Summon Creatures, and when they rang, the Creature would be released. Of course, they had to be rung a certain way, or they wouldn't work.

If Sango hadn't brought them, Kagome wouldn't have been allowed to go off on her own. Sango was always worrying about small things like _safety_. But there were at least fifty bells on the belt, and ten more on each anklet and bracelet. The single bell dangling from the choker was a special one given to her by Sesshoumaru when he found she had a propensity for getting into trouble.

Kagome ducked under the water, soaking herself completely. For a few moments she soaked in the warm water, but then she moved to where her knapsack was on the bank. She unlatched it, liking how the new bag seemed so much better than her old one. This one was the same size as the old one, but it somehow seemed to hold more. It had pockets in the strangest places.

She was an easily pleased backcountry girl, she supposed. She took out a jar from her bag and dumped a little of the gray powder into her hand. A small bit of water turned the powder into a soapy goop that she lathered into her hair and used to wash her body. It was a homemade mix that Kagome had learned to make. She could give it whatever scent extract she wanted, but her favorite was white lilies.

It helped her to feel at home. And the best part of the soap she made was that it was all natural. She rinsed it out of her hair. She was under water when her mule started shifting uneasily, so she didn't have any warning for the approaching danger. A hand reached under the water and dragged her out of the water.

"Aiee!" she cried, her mind going blank in the presence of danger. She wasn't used to wearing the Koumaberu daily, so she forgot it was there at all. Sesshoumaru couldn't be by her all the time; he often left her to return to his world. That was why he'd given her the bell she wore now around her neck: so if she happened into trouble, she could use her Maryoku to ring it and he would come. It was a faster way of Summoning, and an easier way.

Once she was dragged out of the warm water, goose bumps formed on her body. She was shoved roughly against a tree; her mule was dragging at his tie, trying to run away. She wondered, 'Why me?'

Her frantic eyes searched for an escape as her hand held the wrist that had her hair captive. There were six people in the clearing. She didn't know how they had gotten there. She'd only been under the water for a few seconds. What did they want with her?

They looked hungry, her mind provided for her. And definitely not food-hungry… She felt a beefy hand wrap around her neck, and heard the amused chuckles from the crazy men. They were not dressed like shinobi usually were, and looked no cleaner than stray, feral dogs.

Her mind called them nothing more than bandits, but even that didn't seem right to her. She'd met bandits before, and they were mostly honorable. They simply killed and stole the possessions on their victims. This was most certainly not 'honorable'. She couldn't think what she was supposed to do.

Kagome's mind provided her with the knowledge that she'd been useless to stop her sister too, and she started crying as that beefy, lusty man threw her at his friends. She couldn't even bring herself to scream, or remember she had a voice. She simply cried.

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**Thank you so much everyone! Your reviews make me so happy! **O does it matter O, regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Dark Inu Fan (No, you don't have to stop reading! Ack! Sob!), Hiei's Cute Girl (I worked hard on that scene), KuroxTenshi, Ashuri Nikouru, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I laughed while writing it), KibaSin (You may be right), Kagome Lady of Darkness, S.T. Nikolian, iplayvideogames666 (I play video games too), ancient-relic. 

RECOMMENDATION: Beat up my brothers. Then leave a detailed review of what you did!

_Please leave a review. I know things are looking bad, and I need some feedback... I made the chapter extra long for you, and the next chapter is well started._


	11. Yobidasu Dogs

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. Pairings are undecided at this point._

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Chapter eleven: Yobidasu Dogs

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as they moved swiftly through the trees toward where the highway met with the road to Konohagakure. "Who are we going to meet up with?" It was something that bothered her; Tsunade knew, and Kakashi knew, but she didn't. She disliked being uninformed of known information.

Kakashi responded with a quick, "You'll find out when we get there." In his voice was a smile, and he knew it would bother Sakura greatly not knowing. What he was worried more about was how Naruto was so quiet. He really didn't think Naruto had changed _that_ much in the past few years. He had expected Naruto to demand who they were going to be escorting, and to ask a million questions.

But Naruto was stuck in his thoughts, and mostly running on auto-pilot. He was able to keep up with the swift pace, but if he tried talking, as well as thinking and running, he was pretty sure he'd have a head-on collision with an unfortunate tree.

He kept thinking of something he had heard somewhere. Kakashi had been the Fourth's student, hadn't he? So, then Kakashi would know about Naruto's parents, wouldn't he? But if that were so, then why would Kakashi keep that a secret all that time? And just how exactly was he supposed to react to all that?

Still, Naruto didn't want to confront anyone about what he knew until he'd finished reading that journey log—which might be a while since everything kept getting in the way of it. And then there was the matter of Sasuke that bothered him. How would Tsunade deal with Sasuke?

There was also the matter of what everyone else thought of Naruto now that Sasuke was back, or whether or not most people knew. Sakura knew, which was undoubtedly one of the reasons why Team Kakashi was off on a mission. It was to give Sakura a chance to cope with the fact that the traitor was back. To give her something to take her mind off of that fact. Naruto had heard Sakura telling Ino in confidentiality that she wanted to go right up to Sasuke and slug him with no restraint on her chakra.

Pakkun—in the lead and following the scent of whoever they were meeting up with—had picked up a strange scent. Pakkun relayed the information to Kakashi. Sakura still found it weird to see a dog talking. "Someone else started tailing her about here."

"Are they shinobi?" Kakashi asked.

"If they are, they haven't bathed in days." Pakkun replied.

Sakura said, "Tsunade-sama has had reports of disappearing girls in the villages in this area. She sent Shino, Kiba, and Hinata to find out what's going on this morning."

"We already passed where she would have been by now if she stopped last night in a village." Pakkun added. "She probably rode in the buggy and continued on through the night."

Kakashi felt a frown mar his features as he began worrying about Kagome. She was for the most part trained to utilize her summoning skills, but he wasn't sure if she knew what to do if she were confronted. Would she think to try running? Or would she fight? Or would she simply freeze up?

Sakura said, "Even if she rode in a buggy all night, wouldn't she have stopped to rest in the morning?"

"Not necessarily," Kakashi said. "Pakkun, are we getting close?"

Pakkun suddenly stopped and Kakashi tripped over him. Sakura and Naruto jumped out of the trees and Sakura nudged the downed Kakashi with a foot. New things were happening every day; Jounin were tripping over dogs.

"The scent trail disappeared," Pakkun said as Kakashi got up and brushed himself off like nothing happened. "I can't smell her, the buggy, the mule, or her stalkers." Pakkun started sniffing around on the ground. "It doesn't turn, it just stops."

Kakashi swore rather colorfully. Naruto felt the hair rising on the back of his neck as Kyuubi whispered in his mind yet again. He tried to ignore it, but Kyuubi wasn't easily forgotten. _Look up! Look up!_ Kyuubi said in his mind rather insistently.

Naruto looked up and saw an almost ghostlike version of Kyuubi sitting on a tree branch. His eyes went wide. Despite the fact that he could see right through Kyuubi, it was undoubtedly the humanoid fox creature. "What the hell?" he exclaimed, earning strange looks from Kakashi, Pakkun, and Sakura. "Who let you out of that cage?"

The three looked at where Naruto was looking, but saw nothing. Sakura asked, "Who are you talking to, Naruto?"

"Can't you see him?" Naruto asked, pointing to the spirit. Sakura looked but could see nothing. She shook her head and glanced with worry at Naruto. Naruto looked back at Kyuubi.

_They can't see or hear me. If you want to save that Summoner girl,_ Kyuubi said, _then follow me. _Naruto watched Kyuubi stand up.

"What are," Naruto started, but then it clicked in his head. He'd met a girl who could summon, didn't he? "You mean Kagome?" he demanded, and Kakashi's black eye went wide. Kakashi hadn't told them who they were following…

Kyuubi turned around. _If that's her name,_ he said carelessly. _It may be too late already._

Naruto felt a growl tearing out of his throat. Kyuubi took off running. "Wait!" Naruto yelled, chasing after the fox.

_She won't wait!_ Kyuubi said.

Sakura said, "Kakashi-sensei! Someone must have caught him in a Genjutsu mind trap!"

"No," Kakashi said, "I don't think so. I don't know how the trail disappeared, but I think we should follow him." Sakura nodded and the three took after the racing Naruto. After what felt like several hours but was only ten minutes later, they saw a fire ahead.

The clearing was bare save for a mule cart that was on fire and a dead mule. The mule's body was littered with shuriken. Pakkun went to sniff the mule. "These shuriken smell like the guys who were following her. We must be dealing with shinobi."

_That makes it a little harder,_ Kyuubi told Naruto. Naruto looked at the fox's spirit. Kyuubi was looking in the water of the hot spring. Sakura and Kakashi were quietly waiting for Pakkun to sniff the area and see if he could find any leads on trails. _Naruto,_ Kyuubi called, _come here._

Naruto obeyed and looked into the water at what Kyuubi was pointing to. By the light of the burning mule cart, he could see a glinting at the bottom. He didn't need to be told twice. He jumped into the spring, ducking down to grab the item. It turned out to be a bag; a dark green knapsack. The glinting came from a piece of chain sticking out of the lip of the sack.

As Naruto surfaced, Sakura said, "Naruto! This isn't the time for bathing!"

Naruto lifted the waterlogged bag up onto the edge, then climbed out to wring out his clothes. He should have taken his jacket off first, he thought. Each step he took, his shoes squelched noisily. He should also have taken his shoes off.

Kakashi walked over and knelt by the bag, flipping the cover up and peering inside. The bag was still draining water; Kakashi dumped the contents out and looked at them. Naruto found them all very similar to what he had seen when Kagome dumped her bag out. There were jars of colorful powder, kept dry with airtight rubber seals or corks. There were all the little trinkets that had been in there before, and the flashlight and kunai.

Also among the items were clothes of white and dark green, just like Kagome had worn when he met her on the mountain. The strange pendant she'd worn was still glowing and it was threaded among a pile of jewelry made of silver bells and silver chain links. The "Level One Summons" book was drenched.

"We now know Kagome was here, not only because that's her mule and buggy," Kakashi began, "but also because these are her things." He glanced up at Naruto. "Come out with it. Who led you here?"

Naruto looked at Kyuubi and the fox just shrugged. "Kyuubi," Naruto said finally. He was glad to say it, but at the same time wished he hadn't. Sakura looked nervous all of a sudden.

"You mean the Nine-Tails?" she squeaked. "I thought the demon was dead!"

Kakashi put Kagome's things back in the bag and strapped it shut. He then slid the bag over his shoulder. "Enough, Sakura." Kakashi said.

_Earth-nin, _Kyuubi said suddenly. _Tell them its earth-nin you're dealing with._ Naruto blinked at Kyuubi, but the fox continued. _I don't have any idea what they want with her, but they're good at hiding their presence and hers. That's all the further I can help you. Next time you need my help, you remove the seal first._ With that, Kyuubi was gone completely.

Naruto relayed the information to Kakashi, but left out anything that didn't have to do with their current mission.

xXx

Kagome glared at her captors as they greedily ate roast chicken. She was sitting among a group of twelve other young girls, all varying in age between six and twenty. She didn't really know what was going on, other than they'd all been captured for some unknown reason.

She had been really scared and thought that she would be raped. She'd found out within a few minutes that wasn't the case, or at least she wouldn't be raped there. She'd been forced into an outfit that looked much like an upturned potato sack with a hole for arms and her head.

The other girls were wearing similar garments, though all of them quietly agreed that potato sacks were not anywhere near being in fashion. When she'd realized she wouldn't be raped, her thoughts and her confidence had come back. She had been _about_ to use her Maryoku Koumaberu, but then something hard knocked her unconscious.

When she'd woken up, she was with the other girls. They were all tied to a long rope that connected them to one another, and the end of the rope was connected to a tree. She didn't know where her things were, but they most certainly were not with her. The only thing she did have was the choker around her neck, with the single, very special Summoning bell on it.

Each time she shifted, the bell's hammer would ring. Her captors seemed amused by the sound, but they had no idea just _how_ amusing it could be. She didn't want to ring it just yet though—not with the girls. Had it just been her, she would have.

Kagome looked around her, viewing the girls closely. Some of them were thin and dirtier than others. She judged the youngest, a small girl who could be no older than six years, to have been the first girl to be taken captive. She was sickly and her head lay in the lap of another girl who looked to be the oldest.

"Grahaha!" laughed one of their captors, amused by one of his fellow's rotten jokes. Kagome bowed her head in thought. The girls looked as though they would do anything to get out of their current situation. That certainly was not a good thing, because survival chances were slim in that case.

"Hey, you!" one of the men said, poking a girl with a long stick. The girl shied away from the stick, but the man only poked her again. "Get me some more of that chicken!"

The girl untied herself and shuffled over to the fire. She was no more than ten years old, but her movements mimicked an elderly woman with stooped shoulders and a bad leg. She peeled the chicken from the makeshift spit, making no noise even though the hot meat had to be burning her fingers. She plopped it onto the man's plate and then returned to the other girls and sat down where she had been before.

The girl tied herself back up.

That was another thing that puzzled Kagome. They could all untie themselves, but the girls didn't try escaping. Why not? And what did these grubby men want with them all? Until Kagome knew, could she risk Summoning? She couldn't Summon while she was tied up or she'd end up dragging the other girl's arms out of their sockets because she wasn't properly balanced.

"Hey, what do they want with us?" Kagome asked the girl on her left in a low whisper. The girl didn't even have the confidence to look up at Kagome. She stared at her hands as if the world had come to an end and she was simply waiting for the ground to swallow her. Kagome didn't like that look.

"You'll find out soon enough," the girl said so quietly Kagome almost missed it. "It's almost time…" Kagome sat to wait, the burlap sack she wore making her skin itch. Her hair was still wet, she noticed. The cool night air caused her to shiver and goose bumps crawled along her flesh.

The girl on Kagome's right warned Kagome, "Don't eat the food they give you. It's drugged." Kagome watched the men closely but found soon enough that she didn't _have_ to look closely to notice the men's indiscrete actions. They slathered the remaining chicken with what looked like powdered sugar and then tossed it among the girls. Half of the girls scrabbled for the drugged meat, their sunken eyes feverish.

Kagome looked at the girl on her right. She looked disgusted at her fellow captive's actions. The eldest girl and the youngest sickly girl did not make a move for the meat. The girl to Kagome's left slipped something in Kagome's hand; it was meat, but it didn't have the powdered substance on it.

Kagome guessed the girl had managed to finger it when the men weren't looking. Kagome eyed the small slice and the girl on her right. She slipped it to that girl instead. The girl looked grateful toward Kagome, and smiled weakly at the girl on Kagome's left. Kagome watched as the girl then slowly scooted toward the sickly child and the eldest girl. The meat was given to the sickly child.

Kagome had to do something. She couldn't just sit there and wait for something of interest to happen.

"They're shinobi," the girl on her right explained softly when she'd scooted back over. "Hina was the first to be kidnapped." She glanced at the sickly child, confirming Kagome's original suspicions. "But then Hina fell ill with their treatment of her, and the drugs they were feeding her. Mari is the one taking care of Hina; she was second to go. Mari's dad is a doctor, so she knows a little bit, or at least enough to keep Hina alive. Not that I think it's all that good a thing."

Kagome watched the little girl as her face scrunched up in pain. She wanted to go to the little girl, but at the same time if she were to alert shinobi to the fact that she could use Maryoku (which undoubtedly would be misjudged as chakra anyway) she'd probably lose any opportunities to use koumajutsu—which was likely their only way out. She should have asked Kakashi to accompany her home. Of course, if he'd been along, it would be less likely that she would be captured in the first place, and these girls would still be in trouble.

"What would shinobi want with a bunch of girls?" Kagome asked quietly, once more looking at the greasy men. They didn't look like shinobi at all. Shinobi walked with pride in their skills, didn't they? They took care of the weak, didn't they? They didn't prey on little girls, right?

Kakashi would tell her she was looking at the world in black and white again. He would probably go into a lengthy explanation all about the 'gray' area that she was missing. But that was just what he would do.

"What do all shinobi want with girls?" the girl on Kagome's left asked in a dead voice.

The girl on Kagome's right said, "That isn't true, Sephi!" her voice was somewhat squeaky, but she hurriedly toned it down. "You know it isn't true. Just because these ones are, doesn't mean all of them are!"

Kagome wisely stayed quiet as Sephi responded in that same dead tone, "You don't know what its like, Nana. You only just got here a few days ago."

The two girls fell silent and Kagome didn't know what to say. She didn't know what was going on really. A few minutes later, two more men showed up with a keg of ale between them. The eight men began drinking heavily and within moments they had all become drunken sloths.

One of the men scrambled unsteadily onto his feet and waded into the pile of girls, hitting whoever happened to be in his way. He grabbed up a young drugged child who was too out of it to even scream. The man untied the child and dragged her out of the clearing.

Nana said quietly to Kagome, "See? That's what they want us for."

Kagome's temper had risen a hundred-fold. Sephi even noticed it. The two girls beside Kagome looked at her in surprise as she felt her fists itching to deal out swift justice. There was no doubt in Kagome's mind what that man intended to do.

She looked at the remaining captors; all of them were enjoying their drink. None of them noticed the absence of their companion or the girl.

Suddenly the consequences were not an issue. She hadn't untied herself before because she didn't want to bring attention to herself, but now the eyes of several drunks turned on her as she untied herself and stood up, bracing her feet and folding her hands together. Those girls who were sensible still looked at Kagome in surprise.

"Sit down," Sephi urged Kagome. "You'll only make it worse for yourself if you fight!"

"Hey, you jerk faces!" The drunks blinked at her before laughing amongst each other as though amused. "I'm talking to you!" she told them. "And you better damn well start taking me seriously, or else!"

One of them yelled, "Or else what, girl? You gonna stomp your feet in a temper?"

Kagome felt a cruel smile cross her face. "Or else I'm going to Summon your last supper and make it an interesting night."

The shinobi sobered up fairly quick at the word 'summon'. Instantly they were on their feet and before she could even do anything, she was grabbed by two strong shinobi with her arms spread wide. Ropes were tied to her hands and soon she was dangling between two trees. She couldn't move farther than that.

She was twelve feet away from the other girls at that point. She smiled as the lead shinobi walked up to her. "What's funny now? Even if I highly doubt you can Summon, we've got your arms occupied."

"That's very true," Kagome told him, still smiling, "my hands _are_ occupied. I'm just laughing at the idiot mistake you made."

"And what mistake would that be?" he sneered.

"You left the bell on," Kagome told him. She started letting her Maryoku enter the bell and it rang out a tinkling sound. Seconds later, Sesshoumaru himself appeared, resplendent in his white garments. To anyone who couldn't see the rip, it would look like Sesshoumaru had just stepped out of thin air.

His hair swayed gently in the cool breeze that flowed through the trees, and his glowing golden eyes took in everything without fail. His nose wrinkled slightly in disgust at the scents around him and the shinobi began backing away from Kagome steadily. The girls who were drugged didn't seem to register anything that was going on, but the few who had not eaten the bad meat were looking at Sesshoumaru in astonishment.

Sesshoumaru glanced at Kagome for a moment before looking down at his feet where his loyal servant (and annoying companion) Jaken was standing previously unnoticed. "Remove the ropes," Sesshoumaru told Jaken.

"But my Lord!" Jaken stammered in a flustered voice, "Surely this is the perfect way to get rid of that useless human once and for all! Surely she is a burden upon the Great Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken stumbled on his strange brown-green kimono, planting his awkward face in the ground quite firmly.

"Useless!" Kagome growled in irritation, but Sesshoumaru shot her a glare that told her to be quiet. She obeyed the silent command, but still shot Jaken a look that spoke tales of promised pain sometime in the near future.

Sesshoumaru looked at the shinobi with an elegant yet bored expression on his face. "Would you presume to think that this Sesshoumaru would waste his time on something if he did not feel it worth the effort, Jaken?" Jaken began spluttering apologies and excuses for what he'd said. Sesshoumaru pressed on, "Or perhaps you think this Sesshoumaru incapable of the responsibilities of having a human in his care?"

"No, my Lord, no no! I would never think anything like that! This Jaken is your most faithful servant! There is nothing that my Lord is incapable of!" Jaken was speaking so fast and bowing so much that not only was he hard to understand, but he looked like he was doing push-ups.

Sesshoumaru added the final stone to Jaken's guilt by saying, "Perhaps then you are suggesting that this Sesshoumaru shirk his duties to the human in his care?"

"No, no no! Never, my Lord would never shirk his duties, and I would never suggest anything like that, my Lord!" Jaken half-screamed.

"This Sesshoumaru is having thoughts of hiring a new retainer, Jaken." Sesshoumaru said idly, still staring at the shinobi. They seemed to be frozen in place with fear, just as Jaken seemed to be several shades paler. "One of the duties of a retainer is obedience, is it not?"

Jaken screeched in terror and raced to where Kagome was tied between two trees. He started attempting to climb one of the trees but it wasn't working at all for him.

Sesshoumaru then addressed Kagome. "You will bathe and rid yourself of the odorous stench that lingers upon you as soon as you reach water. Understood?" Kagome nodded. Part of her original agreement with him had been regular bathing, because he couldn't stand the scent of humans. It had also prompted her to making fresh scented shampoo that wasn't too strong so that she wouldn't be too harsh on Sesshoumaru's senses. "Good. Now, what is it you need of this Sesshoumaru?"

"These men have been kidnapping girls, drugging them, and raping them!" Kagome told him immediately. "One of them has a young girl right now, beyond those trees!"

"This Sesshoumaru can hear that." Sesshoumaru said with an annoyed glance to where Kagome had mentioned. He grew annoyed at Jaken's futile attempts to climb the tree to reach high enough for the rope. Sesshoumaru reached out and with a single claw he cut the rope holding Kagome's left hand. "This Sesshoumaru assumes it to be your wish to free the girls of their captivity."

"You know, that's a great idea," Kagome told him. "Actually, I just called you here to free me of the ropes. I was going to Summon a level one creature but since you're already here…"

Sesshoumaru said, "This Sesshoumaru finds your tone—"

"Insolent?" Kagome finished for him. "You usually do, but these girls won't wait forever. You can scold me later." She untied her other arm and hurried past the stunned other girls toward where the man had taken the child. "Take care of these ones and don't let anything happen to the girls!" Kagome told him.

The trees became a blur as she rushed past, trying to locate the man and the child. She got there in time to find the man standing up. He was about to pick up the child—probably to carry the abused girl back to the group—but she wasn't going to let him put another greasy finger on the girl.

She swooped down and her hands found a couple sizable rocks that she threw at him. She missed badly both times, but had gotten the man's attention. At first he looked confused, but then he realized she was attempting to attack him.

He pulled out several shuriken—she wasn't sure where he got them from, and she was watching him—and fanned them out. She folded her left hand over her right, her two pointer fingers and her right middle finger up toward the sky. Kagome braced her feet in annoyance and disgust.

"Why!" she yelled. "What kind of person are you? They're little girls!"

The man smirked. "They're little girls, and I'm tight with desire for them. That's why. Don't worry—you'll get your turn."

She built her Maryoku up as she always did, forming an unseen Maryoku blade. The man threw the shuriken at her, but she couldn't take the time to dodge them or she would lose her chance to Summon. The more she built up the Maryoku blade, the more it wanted to fly, but she held it back. She had to see the rip-strand first. As the first shuriken embedded itself in her flesh, unhindered by her lack of armor of any kind, she saw the glistening hair-like thread and let the Maryoku blade fly.

The hair-like thread was cut and the black void appeared. Two large level one Summons padded out, their tongues lolling playfully. They looked almost like dogs, their shaggy white fur glowing and their golden eyes looking everywhere.

When the dogs appeared, the void closed and Kagome let herself fall to the ground, six shuriken embedded in her flesh. The dogs saw Kagome and the little child and separated to sniff both of them.

The man chuckled. "Summoning your petty dogs won't save you." He told her.

Kagome struggled to pull the shuriken out of her. With the shuriken in hand, and blood pouring out of the nasty wounds, she used the dog as a brace and stood up. The dog was massive, almost to her elbow at the shoulder. The dog licked her hand and she pushed its nose away.

"I'll introduce you to my petty dogs," Kagome told the man. "Avei and Kotor. They're famous for their protection of women and children… and like an idiot, you just hurt their Summoner, who happens to be a woman."

Avei was the one licking at the little girl. His lip was curling and he was indeed growling rather protectively. The longer the girl didn't respond to his actions, the more Avei growled. After a moment, and while the shinobi realized his mistake, Avei's head snapped up.

"Yobidasu dogs," the man muttered in horror.

"Ooh," Kagome felt a grin come to her face despite the fact that she was in pain. "How'd you guess?" Avei and Kotor were two of Kagome's papa's most used Summons. He had been so pleased when she had finally managed to Summon them. Her father had been a Konoha-Yobidasu Summoner so before the Kyuubi incident, he'd taken Avei and Kotor on many missions.

It was reasonable for the man to be afraid. She would have thought him insensible if he weren't. Avei and Kotor had quite the reputation all over the world as the gentlest Summon dogs…as long as women and children within their senses were safe.

"Go ahead," Kagome told him. "Take off running. I'm sure they'd like to play a game of chase. It's been three years since they were Summoned."

Kotor looked at Kagome for a moment before he shifted his weight. She released him and he stepped forward rather menacingly, lip curling to show massive teeth. He howled, his voice so loud and deep it rattled the leaves on the trees.

Petrified, the man took off and Avei and Kotor were instantly hot on his heels, barking and howling.

Kagome formed Maryoku in her hands and forced it into the wounds on her body. After so long not Summoning, she didn't have the energy to do much more than stop the bleeding. Not only that, but she was tired and had used a lot of her stored energy in healing Sasuke, and she'd Summoned Ah-Uhn. The difference between Maryoku and chakra was in how much the body was prepared to use daily. Since she hadn't Summoned for three years, her body wasn't used to using so much.

She couldn't help it when she passed out, but at least she'd stopped the bleeding. She only hoped someone would find her and the little girl.

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**Goodness I had so much trouble with this chapter. I kept writing it, not liking it, and deleting it. I finally kept this version, since I think it worked. If anyone is interested in a peek at what the chapter would have been like (mostly) if I kept the other version, just ask!! AND THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!! **regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Ashuri Nikouru (I had a tough time with that particular scene and re-wrote it twice), DeathNoteMaker (you don't really make those, do you? Should I be worried?), inuag-Spellcaster (I am interested to hear what other people would like the pairing to be, but I am already decided on what it _will_ be. Fortunately I am keeping that on the 'low'), lildevil0644 (I consider things bad), KibaSin (no, I think you had it right the first time..."Stupid men"), Hiei's Cute Girl (I am evil...you noticed?), KuroxTenshi (I feel it pertinent to inform everyone of your question). 

ANSWER: Sasuke does not have feelings for Kagome. He sees her as a way to possible stop Naruto from becoming a Summoner, although it's his fault Naruto wants to be one in the first place.

_Thanks for your feedback everyone, again. I really had a lot of trouble on this chapter, seriously. I just couldn't get it to work right so I ended up changning practically everything. Please leave more feedback for me, since the button asks you too... _


	12. Kiba's Troubles

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out._

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Chapter twelve: Kiba's Troubles

The night somehow felt longer than any other night he'd endured. The darkness seemed colder than he was used to too, but the stars and moon had never shone brighter. The moon was full that evening.

But Kiba was worried. He'd volunteered for this mission. He'd heard of the plight of the village and instantly something spoke in him, an urge to do something in an immediate sense. Who wouldn't? A dozen girls go missing from a village, but no one realizes it until it grew to be too late.

He had to do something. And yet, there he was in the small village, but nothing was turning up. Shino and Hinata had begged him to turn in for the night—actually, Hinata had begged him and Shino had simply warned him not to complain of exhaustion come morning—but he had ignored both.

Now it was three AM and Kiba Inozuka was trekking through the empty streets of the small village with Akamaru, searching for something, _anything_, that could help him find those girls. He didn't know why he was so uptight about it. Shino had pointed out to him already that this sort of thing happened all the time. People went missing for reasons that no one could explain.

Hell, that's what shinobi were for, wasn't it? They _helped_ people go missing. They helped people tie ropes around their feet. They helped people fall off of bridges into swift rivers. They even helped weight the ropes with heavy rocks! They were a very assisting type of people when it came down to being compared with ordinary soldiers who only fought in wars where the politicians were corrupt, not the soldiers themselves.

And Kiba had known it happened everywhere. But it just _happened_ to have happened to someone Kiba was related to. He growled in frustration and punched the air, hoping to relieve some frustration. It didn't really work. "Mari," he grumbled, looking up at the full moon again. He paused in the center courtyard of the village. Akamaru dipped his muzzle into the fountain to take greedy slurps of water.

"Are you even alive?" He wondered, but the moon gave him no answers—again. Sometimes the moon was incredibly frustrating. He shivered before dunking his head into the fountain. When he pulled his head out, he shook it violently. Liquid sprayed left and right from his wild mane. "It's been…three weeks?" he sighed. "Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?" he asked no one.

Akamaru lifted his head to look at Kiba, his eyes showing worry. Kiba scratched Akamaru behind the ear absently. "I've only been here for a day," he told himself. "It's too early to give up, right?" Akamaru huffed slightly in agreement. "I guess, then we should go get some sleep. We'll get up early and keep looking." Kiba promised his dog.

Still, the chill that had settled on him seemed wrong somehow. It wasn't a chill that had to do with the cool night air, or the fact that he'd stuck his head in the fountain. It was the kind of hair-raising chill one got from fear. He kicked at the dirt as he walked, his eyes constantly on the lookout for anything—some sort of sign.

Nothing.

He reached the tiny inn of the village. With such a small population, and the village being so remote, the inn only had a total of two rooms. One of them was occupied by a crotchety old geezer. The other one was being used by the three shinobi and Akamaru. It was only a one-bed room on top of that, so out of courtesy, Hinata got the bed.

Kiba paused once more by the door to the inn to glance around. Again, his gaze fell to the distant, annoyingly silent moon. Kiba again felt that shiver go up his spine and raise the hairs on the back of his neck, but this time, it was because Akamaru was growling in a way he'd never done before.

And then Kiba _felt_ it. What Akamaru must have heard… Howling, closer than Kiba felt comfortable with, and it was coming closer. It reverberated in _his_ chest, and he wasn't even the one calling out. Akamaru lifted his own call in response to that howling. It was more of a baying, like dogs chasing a fox… very loud, large dogs. The ground started shuddering the closer the baying came.

"Kiba-kun," Hinata's voice reached Kiba's ears, ringing nervously. Kiba watched Akamaru in confusion. "What is that noise?" Kiba cast a quick glance to either side of him; Shino and Hinata were awake, both of them ready for battle if need be. "Why is Akamaru calling like that?"

He didn't respond to Hinata's questions. He knew Akamaru was responding to those calls, but he didn't know why. Usually Akamaru was a pretty placid fellow, and very rarely did he answer the calls of a dog that didn't belong to the Inozuka clan. As for what was making the noise—or why it was doing it—he didn't know.

The villagers started waking up to the sound of the approaching animals, and the windows started rattling. Suddenly, Akamaru took off. Dogs from all over the village scrambled out of their houses exiting through open windows or dog doors or racing out when their masters exited onto the street. "AKAMARU!" Kiba called, and tore after his dog. Every dog in the village was headed toward that baying.

Shino and Hinata both were trying to figure out what to make of this new development, but neither had long to debate it internally. They followed Kiba, and as they got closer to the edge of the small village and the earth shuddering got more violent, windows began not just rattling but shattering.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata called out.

Shino muttered, "I hate it when he tears off—the both of them."

And then they saw a man, tearing forward toward the village, screaming. He looked like nothing more than a scrap and was being chased by two dogs just slightly larger than Akamaru. Blood stained one dog's white fur and muzzle. The blood shone in the full light of the moon, dark and glittering fresh.

With each pound of the two dogs' paws, the ground shuddered more. The village dogs, led by Akamaru, blocked the man's path and barked and growled and howled. The two large dogs slowed down as if they knew their prey was finally cornered. The man skittered to a halt so that he wouldn't crash into the line of dogs.

Tears of fear fell down the man's face. He collapsed to his knees and the village dogs began to form a strange circle around him. It was frightening to watch, somehow. Those large dogs barked deeper than Akamaru, and made the very earth rattle.

The two large dogs stepped forward, baring dangerous teeth.

"Please, no!" the man begged, holding his head and worming away from the dogs' advance. "Please, no! I'm begging you! I didn't know, I didn't know anything! _ANYTHING_!" The man screamed.

Kiba didn't think twice. He leapt up onto the roof closest and launched from the roof into the middle of the fray, landing between the man and the large dogs. "Kiba-kun!" Hinata called with worry lacing her tone. Shino followed Kiba's suit, and Hinata wasn't far behind. The three formed a protective circle around the sobbing man.

"Old man," Kiba snarled, "What the hell did you do to get every fucking dog in the damn county after you?" It was a slight exaggeration, but he sure wasn't going to correct himself. The man continued sobbing as the two large dogs growled lowly at Kiba.

"I didn't know anything!" the man repeated. "We were just having a bit of fun! I swear, it was harmless fun! No one was hurt, I promise, we were careful!"

Kiba was suspicious of the man though he didn't know what he had to be suspicious over. And then, to Kiba's ultimate surprise, one of the large dogs **spoke**. Hinata and Shino were surprised as well, especially since the dog addressed Hinata directing his rage-filled golden gaze on hers. Slowly those golden eyes grew confused.

"Child," the dog grumbled, his voice making goose bumps ripple on their flesh. The villagers were gathered, but attempting to hide anywhere possible. "Why would you protect that _filth_?"

Hinata gulped in fear. There was really no question who the dog was addressing. She didn't know what to say, but the second dog spoke in a voice equally deep and frightening. "Girl, I am Kotor," he was the one with blood streaking on his nose and in his fur. "My brother is Avei. We were made to protect you, yet you defend your aggressor?"

"What are you talking about?!" Kiba demanded, but Avei stepped forward and smashed his massive head into Kiba's side, sending him flying into an unforgiving wall and out of the circle.

The man cried, "Please! They're not hurt, they liked it! They wanted it! With the teasing stares they were giving us, they were asking for it!"

Avei growled, "_Silence, swine_!"

Shino raised his voice in a respectful tone, knowing better than to antagonize the large dog after what happened to Kiba. Kiba was standing up, trying to shake off a heavy knock to his head. "This man has done nothing to Hinata. Why would you need to protect her?"

Kotor stepped up by his brother and said, "Yet."

Nervously, Hinata asked, "Yet?"  
Avei and Kotor suddenly stopped growling. An almost oppressive silence fell, only the sound of the wind and the man's cries being heard. Avei and Kotor backed away from the man and it almost seemed as though a very tall man had floated out of the sky. He was a strange looking man, and he seemed to glow. His golden eyes took in everything as the floating red cloud under his feet brought him very close to the ground.

The strange man stepped off the cloud and it dissipated. Two females, one a young woman and the other nothing more than a child, were with him. The young woman seemed to be entwined somehow in a tail that held her up with ease. The child was in the man's arms, dirty but recognizable to one of the villagers.

A woman darted forward, "Nasuri!" she cried, but a man caught her and held her back.

"It was all good fun!" cried the man again.

Both child and woman were unconscious. The young woman seemed somewhat bloody. It was so strange to see that man; he did not seem entirely human. His ears were pointed like an elf's ears were… Kiba was reminded of Kyuubi somehow—an ethereal being.

"Avei." The man called, trailing his eyes to the large dogs. "Kotor. Explain to this Sesshoumaru why you took so long to catch one pathetic human?"

Avei and Kotor seemed to lower their heads in shame. "We—" Avei started hotly, but was cut off by 'Sesshoumaru'.

"Do you intend to fabricate excuses? If so, this Sesshoumaru would do better to skin the two of you for matting." Sesshoumaru turned away as if the conversation was over with. Sesshoumaru's eyes scanned the crowd before coming to rest on the woman who was sobbing 'Nasuri' over and over again. "Come retrieve your child, woman." The sea of village dogs parted and the woman nervously looked at the path created.

The woman started walking forward and approached Sesshoumaru with far more caution than she had been going to use earlier. Sesshoumaru let the woman take the little girl and then she ran in fear of him. Sesshoumaru paid no heed to Shino, but looked at Hinata. "You."

Hinata gulped as his attention turned on her. Those piercing golden eyes were scarier than the two giant dogs. "Yes?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru's tail set the young, bloody woman on the ground carefully. Shino, Hinata, and Kiba suddenly recognized that face to belong to the woman who was looking for Naruto. "This Sesshoumaru requests that you take care of her and bring her to full health. If you do this, you will be well compensated. If anything happens to her while in your care, this Sesshoumaru will destroy everything you hold dear."

Hinata shook visibly. Under ordinary circumstances, her nerves were already shot, but put under pressure, she was a near wreck. Only her friends' presence kept her strong. If she had been alone, no one else watching, she would have fainted. It made her feel weak to think it, but she knew it was true. "I-I will, t-take care of her…for you…" She wasn't given too much of a choice.

Kiba growled, "Hey! Who are you to threaten Hinata?"

Sesshoumaru turned his attention to Kiba as Avei and Kotor mumbled quietly amongst themselves. "This Sesshoumaru has a request for you as well." Shino wondered just who the man was. He really didn't think the man was human. He couldn't figure out if the man was friend or foe.

"Tch!" Kiba began furiously, "No."

"Hn." Sesshoumaru stared coldly at Kiba. "There are abused women and children in those woods. Avei and Kotor shall lead you to them. You will take some able-bodied men to retrieve these females, or…" Sesshoumaru suddenly smirked and glanced at Akamaru. "Or this Sesshoumaru shall have a new pet."

"Keh!" Kiba said cockily. "You couldn't take Akamaru. He wouldn't…" he trailed off to see Akamaru wagging his tail happily and sniffing Sesshoumaru's hand. "Akamaru, no!" Kiba felt crushed. Sesshoumaru knew he had won. Then Kiba processed what his 'request' was. This just might lead him to Mari.

Sesshoumaru turned to Shino finally. "A 'request' I presume?" Shino asked.

Sesshoumaru merely responded with, "You will locate a one Hatake, Kakashi." Sesshoumaru reached in his haori and pulled out a scroll, glued shut with what looked like a royal seal pressed in red wax. "Inform him that the Higurashi Summoner belonging to this Sesshoumaru is in this village and give him this. If the seal is broken on the scroll by any other than Hatake, Kakashi, this Sesshoumaru will hunt you down and slaughter you."

Shino nodded and accepted the outstretched scroll. There was no mistaking the seriousness of the situation—or of Sesshoumaru's clear distrust of people. He did not really ask for much. His requests were pretty simple, actually. But he seemed to think them _incapable_ of handling the tasks, so he gave ultimatums to ensure the jobs were done to his satisfaction.

Finally Sesshoumaru glanced down at the pitiful excuse of a human lying on the ground sobbing. "This Sesshoumaru is most displeased. You, human, are nothing more than garbage. This Sesshoumaru has blood on him for the first time in two centuries because of you. But this Sesshoumaru shall allow Hatake, Kakashi to have you." He glanced up at the gathered villagers. "Lock this pathetic human away. This Sesshoumaru dislikes repeating orders."

The three shinobi wondered how this strange, glowing man knew Kakashi for a few seconds before watching Sesshoumaru turn around. He began walking away, that "tail" settling over his shoulder. They then realized the base of it was not connected to him. It was merely a pelt, not a tail. It explained how it was so flexible.

Suddenly he stopped and turned back, glowing golden eyes piercing into the crowd of dogs. He growled, _literally_ growled, and his eyes flashed a mad red color. The dogs cowered away from him before yelping and racing back to their individual owners. Only Akamaru, Avei, and Kotor seemed unfazed.

Sesshoumaru then seemed to simply vanish as though he'd disappeared into thin air. There was no feel of any form of chakra manipulation to explain his departure. He was simply _gone_. Hinata whispered, "Shino-kun, I don't think that man was human…"

Shino looked at the scroll, not entirely certain why the hell he put his sunglasses on… considering it was the middle of the night. It made things a whole lot harder to see, being that it was night and all… "I wonder what made you guess that?" he drawled carelessly, not really liking the threat of death hanging over his head. He thought she might have guessed by the fact that the man had said he "hadn't had blood on him for over two centuries" and yet he looked unearthly (and twenty).

Hinata didn't notice his sarcasm. She approached the 'Higurashi Summoner' the man had left behind, even as she said, "It's because of the black hole he just walked into." Shino and Kiba stared at her.

Avei seemed to growl in approval. Kotor said, "You can see it, girl?"

Hinata squeaked in surprise at being addressed by a talking dog again. "D-Didn't everyone?"

Avei chuckled. "Highly doubtful, girl."

The villagers were doing as Sesshoumaru had told them, though they were as-yet unaware _why_ they had to take the crying man into custody. They weren't about to disobey Sesshoumaru though. He had the air of one who would not make light of his threats, and even though he hadn't actually voiced any threats to the villagers, it was obvious that disobedience would be treated harshly.

Shino looked to Hinata and Kiba. 'I hope I don't regret this later on,' he thought. 'There is _bound_ to be repercussions.' Under ordinary circumstances, he would have said no to the one trying to order him about. But the circumstances were anything but ordinary, and that man was _not_ human. "Kiba. Gather some able villagers and do as you have been instructed." Kiba nodded and approached the villagers to explain what would need to be done. "Hinata," Shino told her, "do what you can for the woman. When I return, we will take her to Konohagakure medical hospital." Hinata nodded and knelt beside the woman in the potato sack.

Shino then took off for Konoha, hoping Kakashi was at home reading perverted books instead of off on a mission. That would make things _so much simpler._

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**Yeah, I had trouble with this chapter too. It wouldn't do what I wanted it to, so I wanted to shoot it. Good thing I didn't, or my lappy would be sporting a nasty sore right about now, and updates would get real slow. Thanks for all your reviews everyone! **Hiei's Cute Girl (If I were a religious girl, I'd be fearful to note that the reincarnation of the devil was reading my story...thankfully, I'm not religious, so I fear not your delightful fanfiction perversion! Hehe...), Dark Inu Fan (we'll have to find out if he's reported in another chapter...darn, that means waiting, doesn't it? I'm so evil...), regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I'm fair mad at this chapter. I told you I had "other" plans for someone to find Kagome... yeah, that didn't work out at _all_. But the lake will have to wait.), KibaSin (stupid man, begging for mercy...), Kagome Lady of Darkness, KuroxTenshi, S.T. Nikolian (There will be future interactions between Sasuke and Kagome, so never fear things being uninteresting...or fear it, if you like), and Ashuri Nikouru. 

ANSWER: Everyone who mentioned it seemed to enjoy Sesshoumaru/Jaken interaction! I am glad.

_The button would like to recommend the following band: Kitaro. It would also like you to press it and leave a review. Since leaving a review is cheaper than buying a CD, how about it?_


	13. Find Shino

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. Since no one reads this, it's safe to put a spoiler here: this is NOT a Kakashi/Kagome paired story. She's 15, he's like..uh, 30?ish?_

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Chapter thirteen: Find Shino

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, going over everything in his mind. So they were up against Earth-nin, huh? He could imagine the devastating impact the world would undergo if the Land of Rock had Kagome and managed to convince her to Summon for them. Kakashi knew Kagome well enough to say she was an extremely naïve girl—too trusting to be safe.

Kagome herself told Kakashi that she would do anything for a friend… and he knew all too well how easy it was to pretend to be someone's friend. Kagome was a very special girl in Kakashi's life. He never knew how it happened, but the minute he saw her still alive in the smoldering building, he'd had an unmistakable connection to her.

When he'd seen the fire, he'd been so afraid. So much of his past had already died; he didn't want to lose any more of it. The flames had already consumed much of the inner keep, turning the buildings there to nothing more than ash. No one could have survived there.

But he'd come across a young Summon Exterminator who was lying near the front gates of the shrine. The boy was in pain and had suffered so much blood loss that his doom was pending. "Hey," the boy had said, his face a mess of blood. Kakashi knew there had been a battle of Summons, and could only wish he had been there to fight in it. He constantly thought if he were there, the damage might not have been so severe. It was a blind hope, but he still wished he could have done something.

"What happened here?" Kakashi asked the boy.

The boy shook his head, a small grin crossing his lips even though death was upon him. "I took a…vow, you see… I would take all the Yobidasu secrets…to my grave."

Those words were enough to stun Kakashi. The boy couldn't be more than seventeen or eighteen, and he spoke with conviction in his voice. He didn't desire the world to know his last battle—didn't need to have it heralded about from nation to nation. Kakashi had remembered that was how _all_ the Yobidasu were. That was how they were raised to be. The secrets of the Yobidasu were never to be spoken to a non-member.

"Then why are you talking to me?" Kakashi had asked the boy.

The boy said, "The young mistress Higurashi and Tengomi were sent to the punishment building last night. Since you're here… go save them. I… I saw young master Higurashi running to the punishment building… but be quick… the enemy may have gone to the punishment building before she left."

Not longer than two seconds after he'd finished talking, the boy breathed out his last breath. Kakashi had hurried into the inner compound. Things looked much different than it had when he had trained there, but he chalked most of it up to the fact that the Yobidasu had to expand the compound to accommodate all the Summoners and Summon Exterminators who had been forcibly exiled from their home countries simply because they were a part of the Yobidasu clan—because _one_ Summoner had gone mad.

The punishment building wasn't much different than any other. It was on fire, but it hadn't been burning long. The punishment building, as he'd remembered, had been where the Yobidasu sent mischief-makers. It wasn't a very severe punishment: straight to bed, no supper. It was _made_ worse because of the fact that the compound kitchens were attached to that building. It was hard to sleep hungry with the delicious scents that permeated the entire building.

He'd found Kagome with no difficulty. She was in a similar state to the boy he'd found at the gates. Kagome was easily distinguished as the young Mistress Higurashi the boy mentioned. She had the same deep blue eyes as her father had—Kakashi had known her father when he was a boy. He'd really liked the man and looked up to him.

"Are you death?" Kagome had asked him as she lay bleeding on the floor, just barely propped up against the wall. A young boy lay a few feet from her, slashed near in half. A young woman was also there, face down on the floor with a stab wound in her back. "Have you come to take my soul?" He'd never been asked that before. He'd been so startled.

"I'm not death," he'd assured her. "I'm here to get you out of here." He'd bent to pick her up, but she'd stopped him with her voice.

"Sango! Sango needs help more than me." Kagome had insisted. "She couldn't stay conscious." Her worry was not for herself, but for the other girl.

He could remember thinking, 'Just like her father,' because it really was. Her father never cared what happened to him, as long as everyone else was safe.

And he was still amazed by Kagome. She had the famous temperament of her father: quick to anger, easily pleased and amused. But if an expert played her, and Kakashi found himself furious at the very idea of it however true it was, she would be helpless. She was too precious to be used like that.

He snapped to attention when a hand started waving in his face. Blinking a few times to clear his mind, he looked at the spiky blond in front of him. "Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, looking rather annoyed at being ignored. "Senseiiii," Naruto rapped his knuckles on Kakashi's forehead.

Kakashi grasped Naruto's wrist and bent it back easily. "Na-ru-to," Kakashi said in warning, dragging each syllable out.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Naruto whined. Kakashi ignored Naruto's mild pain. Really, the boy should know better than to knock his teacher's head like a door.

"Sensei, are you okay?" Sakura asked. "You totally zoned out!"

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said, slapping on a smile—not that they'd get the pleasure of seeing it with the mask in the way and all. "Sorry, I was just debating what we should do next."

Sakura suggested, "Well, if Pakkun can't scent a trail, what about Shino's bugs? We could trade Naruto for Shino. Shino, Kiba, and Hinata are on a mission in a village just a few miles north of here if geography serves me right."

"What!" Naruto yelped, dragging his hand away from Kakashi's abuse. "What do you mean, 'trade Naruto'? That's so cold, Sakura!"

"Excuse me for having an idea!" Sakura snapped. "It's better than standing around staring at a burning mule!"

"The _cart_ is on fire, not the mule! That thing's just dead!" Naruto retorted irritably. "You _can't_ just trade me!"

"Actually, that's not such a bad idea." Kakashi began.

Naruto's bright blue eyes opened wide in horror. "Not you too!" he started.

"Shino has been really working hard at training with his bugs, Naruto." Sakura clenched her fists tightly. Her lips formed a tight line and a fire raged in her eyes, almost as if Naruto had said something offending.

"So what! I've trained real hard too! Too hard to just be _traded_ from team to team just because—" Kakashi cleared his throat and Naruto silenced himself, barely. He wanted to continue ranting. Didn't anyone have faith in Naruto's skills? Was he just kidding himself thinking someday he'd be the greatest Hokage ever? Was it truly a child's dream?

No, he shook himself mentally. He had to keep faith in himself. His father was the Fourth. Naruto would follow in his footsteps. …But it did kind of sting. Sakura had seen his skill, and yet still she suggested they trade Naruto. He thought he'd earned a little respect…

But he didn't know what inner turmoil Sakura was going through. The very mention of Kyuubi had unsettled her. She would have preferred to face an entire army than just one Kyuubi-monster. And yet, Naruto said Kyuubi had led them to where they were.

"Naruto, you're not being traded for anything," Kakashi said, ruffling the boy's spiky hair. It was then that he noticed something. "Hey, where's your forehead protector?"

Naruto blushed and muttered something that sounded remarkably like 'I lost it'. Sakura said, "But sensei, you agreed!" She thought to herself, if Naruto can see Kyuubi but I can't, what's there to say Kyuubi isn't behind me, ready to eat me? Instinctively, she turned her head and looked behind her, straining her eyes to see what wasn't there.

Kakashi said, "I said it's not a bad idea. I never agreed. However, we'll go to the village; Shino may be able to spare a few hours from his mission to help us locate Kagome."

Pakkun said, "In that case, you won't need me." He raised one paw in farewell before popping out of sight in a ploom of smoke.

With that, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura took to the trees, headed for the village where Shino would be. Sakura kept sending nervous glances at Naruto. Why would Kyuubi show himself to Naruto, the class clown, the number one most hyperactive ninja in Konoha? She would have thought if anyone were to see Kyuubi, he would be at the very bottom of the list… wouldn't he? He was just a nobody his whole life… He didn't even have parents.

But… why was she scared of _Naruto_ then? Naruto wasn't Kyuubi. Just because Naruto said he'd seen Kyuubi…

Lost in her thoughts, Sakura didn't notice the bad branch until too late. Naruto easily tossed his irritation at Sakura aside and shot forward, grabbing her around the waist and landing safely with her on a branch instead of allowing her to impact it and break bones on her way down.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Sakura blinked, a fierce flush crossing her cheeks. "Um, yes," she said. She opened her mouth to say a customary thanks, but he was suddenly gone. She couldn't understand herself as mixed up feelings converged. She berated herself for falling, but some part of her wanted to do it again if only so Naruto would save her.

She couldn't stand and ponder it for long. She hurried to pursue her team before they went out of sight. But, two seconds earlier she had been _afraid_ of Naruto… or was it fear? What was it? Why was she… so confused? And when did Naruto grow up?

She scowled at her internal thoughts and forced her mind to turn to something else. Sasuke… somehow, she was both glad and upset that he'd come back.

Kakashi hadn't noticed the slight interaction between Sakura and Naruto. He'd heard the branch breaking, but he'd figured it was Naruto, since surely Sakura would have screamed before catching herself. Again his mind was elsewhere. It wasn't exactly healthy for him to be so distracted, but Kagome was very good at occupying his mind.

'That's it,' he decided. 'She damn well better make me a four course—no, make that six, I want a…no, still not enough for a rescue mission "payment of gratitude" for rescuing a damsel in distress… an eight course meal will just have to suffice, though that's going fair low…' He smiled slightly. She'd get a kick out of that. She was an excellent cook…

But the smile was quick to fade. He heard howling in the distance, an unearthly sound that sent shivers up the spines of each of the shinobi. He picked up his pace. "Let's go, slow-pokes." He told them. Shortly later, the howling stopped. It wasn't too much longer after that when the village Sakura had mentioned came into sight.

It was unusually busy for being so early in the morning. The three approached the village. "Yo!" Kakashi said in greeting to a burly looking woman. "What's going on here?" What it looked like was a bunch of women building a cage. Where were the men? They could see elderly men, and young boys.

The only man around Kakashi's age was a grubby, plain looking man in a greasy tan shirt and brown pants. His feet were bloody as though he'd done a lot of running, and tears kept running down his face. The cage was being built around the man, who sat tied up with at least three coils of rope.

"What's going on here?" Naruto asked, repeating what Kakashi had just asked.

The burly looking woman turned to Kakashi and said, "What does it look like? We're simply waiting to kill a dead man." She turned her nose up for a moment as though she'd smelled something offending and looked back at the cage.

"Waiting to kill a dead man?" Sakura asked.

"Who're you guys?" the woman asked, sniffing again.

Kakashi smacked a smile onto his face figuratively, again raising his hand half-way in greeting. "Just some passing Konoha shinobi. There should be three Konoha shinobi here by the names of Aburame, Shino; Hyuga, Hinata; and Inuzuka, Kiba. Would it be possible to have you direct us to where they are?"

The woman shrugged and shouted to the others, "Remember, ladies, if that bastard opens his mouth and says even one god-damned thing, whack him with those cast iron frying pans!" She then turned to Kakashi again, "One of them's still here. Another took off a half-hour ago to go find some bastard. The third took our men to get our girls from the woods."

"I see," Kakashi nodded in agreement, although he really didn't. Shino probably went to get the girls. Kiba probably took off rather recklessly looking for whoever happened to offend his highly temperamental self, and Hinata was probably the one in the village. "Could you take me to the one who's still here?" Hopefully Shino didn't take too long to get back.

The woman was already leading the way. Sakura and Naruto fell into step behind Kakashi. The woman led the three to a small building with a sign in front of it reading, "Medical Clinic".

Once they entered, Kakashi found himself to be very right in his assumption—or at least part right. Hinata was still in the village. She was staring at a door leading out of the small clinic's lobby room. She was incredibly nervous, shaking.

"Thank you," Sakura said to the woman.

The woman harrumphed before leaving. Kakashi cheerfully greeted Hinata with a chirpy, "Yo, Hinata!"

Hinata turned to look at them, curious who would be talking to her, but when she saw them her eyes went wide. "Sakura-chan!" she squeaked. "You need to go help in surgery! Please, please go!"

Sakura looked at the distressed girl in confusion. "Um," she began, but Hinata rushed over and grabbed Sakura's arm with no short sense of urgency to her. She shoved Sakura toward the door she'd been staring at. Sakura was shoved through the double-hinged door and Hinata went with her.

Kakashi and Naruto glanced at each other in confusion. Kakashi didn't like the 'waiting' game. His sense of urgency kept growing. Those foul-smelling shinobi could have been doing anything to Kagome—_anything_—and he wasn't there to stop them.

Finally, Hinata came back out, wringing the hem of her jacket in her fingers. "Shino must have found you guys?" she began. Kakashi felt his irritation click on as he realized _he_ was the 'bastard' one of the Konoha shinobi went looking for. Villagers could be so cruel…

"No," Naruto said. "We came here looking for Shino. Where'd he go?"

"Um," Hinata looked nervously off to the side—at anything but Naruto. "A…a very tall um…man, he came here. Then… he said to tell Kakashi-san, um…" She gulped but then stood tall and recited what she'd heard. She wouldn't back down from this. She wouldn't let her fear of that man stop her from doing her duty…but he was scary and the girl in the room wasn't doing too well. Hinata wished she'd undergone the medic training.

Kakashi perked up. "Kagome?" he asked. He smiled. "So she's here?"

Hinata nodded. "But she's not doing too well," she said. "She's the one in surgery."

Silence fell and Kakashi found himself unable to look at anything other than the door to the surgery. 'Why wasn't she able to heal herself?' he asked himself. 'Don't tell me her stupid ass vow included not using Maryoku healing?' But that wouldn't have made sense, because she used it on Sasuke.

This was Kakashi's fault… He should have asked to be her escort to begin with! He wanted to walk over to Hinata and shake her until she told him what happened to Kagome. But, almost as if she had read Kakashi's mind, Hinata said, "I… I don't know what happened. Just that the man in the village did something to Higurashi-san… stabbed her with something, six times."

Again it was silent, and Kakashi glared at the door as if it would give him answers. It did no such thing. He turned abruptly and marched out to where they were caging the beast that harmed his little friend. The village women noticed him and squeaked, rushing away. He didn't bother holding back as he kicked one of the boards. It busted into splinters that sprayed everywhere.

The man glanced at the splinters falling like rain and tried worming away. The ropes prevented him from going very far. Kakashi picked up what he considered to be a piece of trash, lifting him by the ropes near his collar. "What the fuck made you think you'd _ever_ get away with harming her?" he demanded, not really noticing the fact that he'd lost his cool, laidback attitude.

"I-it was just fun!" the man sobbed. "I, I didn't know anything! I wouldn't have _touched_ her if I knew what she was!"

Kakashi could swear, the only thing he saw was red. But he could feel his blood pounding through his veins. For the first time in fifteen years, he connected his soul to his chakra to form Maryoku. He could hear the village women screaming, but he paid it no heed. The Maryoku flowed through his blood, pumping with a maddening rush. And then, Kakashi could see again. Kakashi's hands were still on the ropes at the man's collar, but the man was dead. Kakashi could see no visible sign that he had done _anything_ but he knew without a doubt he _had_ done _something_. He just couldn't remember what.

Kakashi dropped the man and fell to his knees. The burning sensation of Maryoku still ran through his blood. He breathed heavily, attempting to catch a breath, but the burning wouldn't stop. He couldn't breathe anymore. He pressed his forehead to the ground, holding his abdomen.

* * *

**Yeah, this chapter went well...I am glad. Thanks for all your reviews everyone! **Dark Inu Fan (There's no surprising you--you know me too well, I guess... or just stalk my stories and know my patterns or something crazy like that...lemme know when you get that brain-cable invented!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I haven't decided if Sesshoumaru will have a huge part in this or not...wait, yes, yes he probably will...damn him. He likes to make it hard on me since I like SessKag pairings and this one can't be one, simply 'cause I said so), regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, DeathNoteMaker (Maybe she'll be paired with every guy? Who wants to see Kagome paired with Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Iruka, Chouji, Shikamaru, Lee, Neiji, Kiba, Shino--did I miss anyone?--all at once? Eh, um...), KuroxTenshi (he's pretty cool, I'll admit), ancient-relic (I told you--from my rear...I poo it out...) Hiei's Cute Girl (cookie), Kagome Lady of Darkness, supersillee06, Ashuri Nikouru (I can't answer that, sorry), and Canis Black (I..also cannot answer that...) 

ANSWER: For some reason, I get a kick out of the Holly Dolly's leva polka techno mix thingy... It's insane... try singing that fast!

_I don't know what the button should tell you to do now. Um, but it sounds cool to say it is saying that it wants you to leave a review saying that you either enjoyed, or did not enjoy, the chapter provided above. _


	14. Eight O'Clock

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter fourteen: Eight O'Clock

'For heaven's sake!' Tsunade screamed mentally as the banging on her bedroom door got louder and more insistent. She threw back the covers, growling in frustration. Her eyes looked blearily at her clock. **5:28 AM**. It wasn't even half past five yet!

"Tsunade-sama!" That was Shizune's voice. Or, as a grumpy, hung-over Hokage was quick to amend, it was a dead woman's voice. A smart, _alive_ woman who had any hope for their future did not bang on Tsunade's bedroom door in the middle of the night.

'This had better be important,' she thought miserably as she pulled herself away from the sweet promises her pillow was whispering at her. Her feet carried her to the door and her hand tossed the lock. Two seconds (and a turn of the door handle) later and Shizune tipped precariously into the room.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune said with surprise, blinking at Tsunade's choice pajamas.

Tsunade glared at her assistant. "What?" she demanded. "You act like you haven't seen me in my elderly form before!" Yes, Tsunade did look a bit…old. There weren't many obvious signs other than crows feet around her eyes and wrinkles around her lips and nostrils. But the wrinkles were the very reason Tsunade performed the youth jutsu, so that—as Gai would say—she could retain her youthful looks.

"Um, no, Tsunade-sama," Shizune shook her head. "It's not that…" again she glanced at Tsunade with that strange look on her face.

"Then what!" Tsunade demanded.

Shizune looked like she didn't want to say it, but the girl knew better than to try keeping something from Tsunade when the elder woman wanted to know it. "Um, why are you wearing sock-monkey pajamas, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade looked at her pajamas. "You have a problem with my pajamas, Shizune?" she asked dangerously.

"No, no! Tsunade-sama, no problem, um…" she fidgeted and tried to remember why she'd come in the first place. She was usually so perfectly attentive, but the sock-monkey pajamas threw her off. "Tsunade-sama, Shino has come back from his mission."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and prepared to snap the door shut. "This could have waited until morning, Shizune! Tell the team good work, pay them, and bother me tomorrow!"

"Tsunade-sama, wait!" Shizune was unfortunately in the way of the door slamming shut. Doors didn't like closing with bodies in the way. Shizune ought to get out of the way… so that Tsunade could slam her door shut.

"What, Shizune," Tsunade grumbled, very annoyed.

"Kiba and Hinata weren't with him when he came back—and he really needs to talk to you! I told him to wait until morning, but he said it can't wait."

Tsunade frowned and thought for a moment. Shino wasn't one to take things lightly, so it stood to reason that if he thought it important enough, it likely was. Tsunade didn't categorize _all_ the youth of Konoha in the same category as Konohamaru and Naruto. Some of them were quite capable of understanding what the difference between 'immediate' and 'not urgent enough to wake a slumbering Tsunade and risk her wrath in the middle of the night'.

"Fine," Tsunade said. "I'll be in the office in ten minutes." Shizune nodded and hurried away to tell Shino. It actually took Tsunade fifteen minutes to prepare herself to go to the office and another five minutes to get there. Since Shizune knew Tsunade so well and didn't argue the time-frame of ten minutes (which was always code for _twenty_ minutes), Tsunade was assured it wasn't _that_ important that it couldn't wait another ten. She was fully prepared, youth jutsu performed and all.

Shino looked exhausted. That was the first thing Tsunade noticed. He was holding a scroll of parchment in one hand. His hood had fallen to reveal disheveled hair and he'd taken off his sunglasses. He was littered with cuts and bruises as if he'd been attacked by some sort of wild gang of birds.

"Shino?" Tsunade asked, fully awake now. "Where are Kiba and Hinata?" She suddenly feared the worst. Shino was no green ninja. He was very skilled at what he did. Kiba and Hinata were also fairly decent ninja—perhaps not as great at it as Shino, but none of them were pushovers!

So, why was Shino looking so bad and where was Kiba and Hinata?

Shino shook his head as though to clear it of the fuzz. "Um," he started, and Tsunade nearly choked on air. Shino said 'um'?? He never did that, as sure as he had never laughed in his _life_. "Kiba is… retrieving the girls… Hinata is… taking care of that girl…" Shino said.

Tsunade frowned. "Why are you so exhausted?" she asked.

"I…ran all the way here…"

"Why?" Tsunade asked. "Why did you do that?"

Shino raised the scroll. "I have to deliver this to Hatake-san. And I'm supposed to tell Hatake-san that the Higurashi Summoner belonging to Sesshoumaru is at the village."

Shino glared at the scroll venomously, as though through sheer will alone he would be able to make the parchment start on fire. Tsunade frowned in confusion. "Kakashi, huh? He's not here now. He's on a"—Shino swore violently before Tsunade could even finish. She trailed off and her frown grew deeper.

'What is this all about?' she wondered, eying the scroll. Shino was acting entirely out of character for himself, and not only that but he looked like _hell_, and she was ultimately curious _why_. She bet she would get some answers if she looked in that scroll, and not even her losing streak could possibly deter her from taking up that personal bet. "Give me the scroll."

Shino looked torn for a moment about what to do. She wondered why he was having such a problem about obeying an order. She wanted to see what was in that scroll. Who was it from, and what did they want to say to Kakashi? Admittedly, she was apprehensive about Kakashi ever since finding out he'd been trained by the Tengomi clan of Exterminators amongst the Yobidasu.

So, if that scroll was for Kakashi, then it stood to reason it might give Tsunade a little more insight into the mind of Kakashi. Something—_anything_—would be better than not knowing at all. Of course, her logical half debated that the scroll could be completely harmless and it might say nothing at all.

That would mean it was useless to look at; a complete waste of time. Then again, she wouldn't know until she actually took a look at it. "Well, give it to me." Tsunade repeated.

But, like all the teens his age seemed to be doing lately, he denied her compliance. Did it really pay to be a leader if all her subordinates would pick and choose what they did or did not do? It made her want to grind her teeth, but she could feel just a small inkling of pride that they would stand up to her. Very few people did that anymore, simply because she was one of the legendary sannin. How boring… no one to pick on. That was one reason why she liked Naruto so much. He was not afraid of her.

"Shino, this isn't time to be disobedient," Tsunade told him. "Pick another time to do this and give me the scroll."

Shino narrowed his dark eyes at Tsunade. "No," he told her, an annoyed tone to his voice. "If you open this scroll, that…creature…will kill me. I happen to like my life, thanks. I'm completely satisfied, even if I _was_ viciously chased by nineteen god-damned different kinds of night birds on my way here."

"Night birds?" Shizune said, startled.

Shino closed his eyes in pure annoyance. "These were not normal birds, Hokage-sama. They were…mad…" It hit Tsunade suddenly that Shino was practically a walking bug-buffet for any creature that could catch him, and for scavengers that enjoyed flesh instead of bugs, he had that too. So he was a kind of "all-in-one" crowd pleaser. She bit her lip, attempting to keep it in, but the laughter came out as a snort instead. Then, Shizune was laughing outrageously and Tsunade couldn't hold it in.

Shino only looked more furious. "Where is Kakashi? I need to deliver this damn scroll _now_ so I can get back to Hinata and Kiba and we can bring that damn woman here for medical treatment! If anything happens to the Higurashi Summoner, that man said he would _kill Hinata_!"

Immediately Tsunade and Shizune sobered up from their laughing spell. It registered in Tsunade's mind that the 'Higurashi Summoner' was also female and Kagome was probably around that village or would be soon. How likely would it be that two female Higurashi Summoner's were in Konoha at the same time? It was certain that there would be other female Summoners, but the Higurashi clan itself usually only had one boy and one girl per generation, didn't it?

Or at least that was how Tsunade recalled it.

That meant that Kagome was likely in danger. It was a shame Tsunade had never gotten the name of Kagome's Level Three Summon-Creature. It would certainly have shed a lot of light on who it really was.

"Do you know who the Summoner is?" Shizune asked.

"Why does it matter?" Shino bit out. His dark eyes flashed dangerously. "She's injured, and obviously lost a lot of blood from what she looked like. That… that _thing_ was able to get into _all_ our heads and find out what would hurt us most—what contingencies could he hold over our heads to get us to obey him unfailingly! Because of that, Hinata is in danger and you're both standing here gawking over _who_ someone is rather than telling me what I need to know so I can get back to my team and assist them!"

Tsunade wasn't sure if she'd ever actually heard Shino say so much in his entire life, and he'd said it all in one single breath; simply amazing. Soon pigs would sprout wings and the sky would start falling, if things kept up the way they were going. Tsunade's old heart wasn't sure she could stand this drastic change.

"Yes…yes, right…" Tsunade gulped, taking a step backward. She felt that by doing so, she was able to clear her mind of the shock. It didn't work, but she did try. She looked at Shizune. "Shizune, grab a team of two medic-nin who aren't on duty and head to the village promptly. Do whatever you must—at any expense."

Shizune nodded. "Right away, Hokage-sama," she said respectfully before taking off quick as her feet would carry her.

Shino looked only minorly relieved of his tension. "Where is he?" he asked again.

"It is important you understand why we need to know who the girl is, Shino," Tsunade explained. She moved over to her heavily laden (and recently purchased—the last one having suffered "Tsunade Syndrome") desk and started shuffling through the files there. She found the one she was looking for.

It wasn't very thick. Tsunade had only just started compiling the file early the day before and since she didn't have a whole lot of information, it was likely to remain an incomplete file. She didn't expect she would ever have the opportunity to learn more about its' subject—that was simply it.

But this file was being compiled on information in terms of a one Higurashi, Kagome. Tsunade had plenty of agents able to spy on the girl while she was in Konohagakure, but they had learned very little. They got a picture of her and that was in the folder. Tsunade had also been compiling folders on Tengomi, Sango and the monk traveling with the two girls, Reven, Miroku, but had come up with an equally slim file on those two. It was strange. The three had mostly been out in the open if they went out, and they never tried to hide what they were saying or doing.

So how could the files be so…empty? How could those three sit out in the open all that time and still no one knew anything about them? Oh, there were small things. Sango liked weapons, and Miroku liked women a little too much, and Kagome loved trying new things at restaurants whenever possible. But none of them ever talked about…anything.

It added more mystery to Kakashi, somehow, because he _knew_ things about these girls. That also brought to mind the conversation Kakashi was reported to have with the girl on their way to Hokage Tower the other day. Kakashi and Kagome had also come _into_ the office and argued right in front of Tsunade.

It was a strange feeling watching them and feeling like a small child again—hearing the words but not understanding any meaning in them. Kakashi had mentioned Kagome's father finding a way to Summon with only one arm and one leg. For some reason, Tsunade felt that should carry a weight in her mind. She should be remembering something, but for the life of her she could not.

And Kagome had mentioned a promise made on her father's grave. Kakashi had called the promise a stupid thing and practically scolded the girl for making it in the first place. What promise was made?

Tsunade sighed and tried to stop the migraine before it could start. Shino was getting impatient, so Tsunade stopped staring at the empty folder and took out the picture of Kagome. She passed it to Shino, saying, "I need to know if that was who the girl was. It's very important, Shino," she added quietly.

Shino glanced at the photo for a long moment. To him, the picture looked very different than the one he'd seen. The one he'd seen was in a brown potato sack for clothes and her hair was bloody, muddy, and matted. Some of her visible flesh was bloody, and it had been very dark. The one in the picture was a girl smiling serenely at something slightly off-camera. Her long black hair was pulled back and tied, two strands hanging over her shoulder but then pulled back into the tie almost like a last thought. She wore a white haori—clean, white and her legs were covered with bright red hakama.

But he was sure it was the same person. "This is the girl," he said with certainty. He handed the photo back and Tsunade replaced it beneath the paper-clip.

"Then the man you met—who you say threatened you and Hinata—was no man." Tsunade told him.

"I could have guessed as much," Shino drawled.

Tsunade pressed on, wondering what course of action would be best to take next. She had sent Kakashi after Kagome, which either meant that Kakashi was too late to catch up to Kagome, or Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura were defeated and likely killed, which was why Kagome was injured.

"The one you met… what did you say his name was?" Tsunade asked.

"He called himself 'Sesshoumaru'." Shino told her. "He spoke in the third person… like royalty sometimes does when they feel superior to those around them."

Tsunade scratched that information down on a piece of paper. "What else happened while he was around? Anything strange?"

Shino almost snorted—would have if he hadn't already done so much out of character that day. "No, certainly not…" he began sarcastically, and before Tsunade could look disappointed, he added, "unless you count massive talking dogs showing up bigger than Akamaru and whose very steps shake the ground and howls that shatter glass. Oh, and the entire village of dogs going mad around those talking dogs… And the fact that the man seemed to be able to communicate on some…primal level…with all the dogs." He paused to let that information sink in Tsunade's brain before adding a final blow that was sure to tick her off. "But…nothing _unusual_. Surely."

Tsunade's head literally crashed against the desk in her shock. He decided that was enough talking from him… he hadn't meant to cause her bodily harm, even if he wasn't actually the reason why she'd just cracked her skull on the hard wooden surface.

Tsunade slowly lifted her head, rubbing it a little. "Okay, Shino, I think I get the point…" She tried to recall the reason why her mind was screaming at her to remember the 'talking dogs', but all she could come up with was Pakkun. "Was Pakkun there?"

Shino almost had a look of confusion on his face, but quickly transformed it to a look of stone instead. "No." he answered.

Tsunade scratched down those details and then said, "Exactly what did this…Sesshoumaru…say to you all?" Shino repeated the words to the very letter, making sure not to leave out anything. "Avei and Kotor were the large dogs' names, you say?" Tsunade scratched that information down as what had been insistently griping about being remembered in her mind surfaced with those names.

"Yes. How are their names noteworthy?" Shino asked.

"Avei and Kotor are quite… reputable, one could say." Tsunade said in an attempt to leave it at that.

But Shino seemed to be made more curious by that lacking response. "Reputable how? I have never heard of them before." Tsunade knew she would have to explain at least a little bit, to sate his curiosity some, though she knew it was dangerous to do so.

"Do you know anything about the Yobidasu, Shino?"

"Only what you told us when you briefed us on the mission to locate Naruto," Shino conceded.

She hadn't told them very much at all at that time. She simply said that the Yobidasu was a clan that lived in the farthest reaches of the Land of Rice, or Sound Country, for more familiar terms. She'd told them that the Yobidasu were known healers. She hadn't elaborated any more than that because she didn't really want the questions that were sure to follow. She had no idea how Shikamaru came to know more about the Yobidasu when he hadn't even been briefed!

Still, she would have to tell Shino a little more than that to sate his curiosity. Why? Because she felt it was…_needed_. "The Yobidasu are more than healers, Shino. The information I am about to tell you must not leave this room." Only when Shino nodded did she continue. She could technically just tell him to give her the information she wanted and have him leave it at that, but sometimes it was better to give up information than keep it all. It bred a sort of loyalty—trust—between a leader and her subordinates.

"The Yobidasu are a clan of Summoners. They rely solely on Summoning creatures like Avei and Kotor…and Sesshoumaru." Shino's eyes went slightly wider. "The 'Higurashi Summoner' _belongs to Sesshoumaru_ because **he feels she does**. If he did not feel she belonged to him, or that he was obligated to protect her, he would simply abandon her."

"You mean…" Shino started, almost fumbling over his words in his shock. "You mean, she… brought that man…that thing…into this world?"

"You got it in one." Tsunade said. "Only the Yobidasu knows how it all works, but that's why he said that to you. _'Inform him that the Higurashi Summoner belonging to this Sesshoumaru is in this village_._'_ I don't recognize the name Sesshoumaru, but Avei and Kotor are most certainly familiar to me."

"How so?" Shino inquired.

Tsunade took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Now came the hard part. All of this was forbidden to talk about because the Council of Elders said so, but it appeared that the past of Konoha was slowly creeping up on them. Soon word would be on the street and Tsunade would be able to do nothing about it.

"Avei and Kotor were creatures Summoned by a man who was once a Konoha shinobi." Shino's brows came together in a slight frown. She knew his thoughts: defect shinobi? "No, he was never a missing-nin. He was an amusing character for most his life—quite comical when paired with his best friend."

"Dead?" Shino asked.

"Exiled," Tsunade amended. Shino's eyebrows came up and she could easily tell his thoughts again. She answered quickly, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "He was exiled because he had the ability to Summon, not because he did anything wrong."

Shino was surprised. "Because…he could do something? That makes no sense, Hokage-sama."

"Nevertheless," she wasn't about to explain _why_ those Shinobi with ties to the Yobidasu were exiled. Even fifteen years after the event—and not having actually seen what happened herself didn't make it any less frightening—she still got shivers down her spine at the thought of the Kyuubi incident which was now taboo to speak of. "He was exiled, and Avei and Kotor were two of his favorite creatures."

Shino shifted impatiently. Their conversation seemed to be taking forever. Why was she delaying telling Shino where Kakashi was? He could have been half-way to Kakashi already (exaggerating of course), although the talk did one good thing. The longer they procrastinated there, the more likely it was that the night birds would go to sleep. He had no clue why they suddenly attacked him like they had.

"Huro, that was his name, took Avei and Kotor on every single mission he went on before he was exiled, and soon word spread to all reaches of the world—Avei and Kotor were protectors of women and children. Missions poured into Konoha…all of them were missions requesting Huro's aide in one thing or another, and usually it was a female requesting it. Konoha made quite a lot of commission on Huro and those two creatures. So you see, that is why I said they are reputable, and it's not just Konoha but the world as well." Tsunade finished.

Shino frowned but nodded. "I see. So we have met legends tonight?" he was very uninterested. He looked out the window to see the sun was dancing merrily and brightly. The clock on the wall told him it was **7:32**. He'd spent too much time in Konoha. He didn't give Tsunade a chance to say more, but for that she was grateful. She didn't want to tell him more about the Yobidasu if she could help it. "Where is Hatake-san?"

"He was sent on a mission to escort the very girl who you said Hinata is now taking care of." Tsunade told him. "I don't know if her injuries can tell us that Team Kakashi is injured or dead, or if Kakashi and the others didn't reach her in time, so"—Shino interrupted her.

"Didn't reach her in time? Would they not have been with her?"

"They were sent a full day after she left with orders to catch up and escort her safely back home." Tsunade pulled a piece of fresh parchment in front of her and began writing on it hastily. She signed it and marked it with the Hokage's wax seal. "There will be no time for briefing. You may choose two off-duty shinobi at least chunin level to go with you. Show this letter to them and brief them yourself on the way. Also, in case they are injured, I want you to take Shen, Fuyumi along. She's a medic-nin and a teacher at the Medic-Nin academy here." Shino nodded and turned to leave, but a last, rather cryptic seeming warning from Tsunade made him nearly falter in his step due to confusion.

"If I were you… I wouldn't go retrieve Fuyumi-chan until at _least_ eight AM, by the way."

Thoroughly confused, Shino took off with the letter in hand. But he did as he was told. He went into the city and the first thing he did was check to see if Shikamaru was available. He was—though not awake. However, a polite exchange of words with Shikamaru's mother was all it took to get Shikamaru up and exactly three minutes and forty-eight seconds later, Shikamaru was all but _dragging_ Shino out of his residence.

Poor Shikamaru, Shino thought for a half a millisecond before tossing away the useless emotion. He chose Shikamaru because—though he was incredibly lazy—Shikamaru was not at all like Kiba. Shikamaru was strategic, and useful in battle because he had a desire to live in order to grow old with a wife in a meaningless, ordinary relationship (with a few ordinary kids).

Shino, followed by Shikamaru, then headed for the Hyuga residence where he found Neiji already up and practicing for the day. It was obvious what kind of team Shino wanted: a strong team filled with fighters who could think at the same time… _multi-taskers_ would be a good way to put it, he thought.

It did not take much to convince Neiji to come along. While Neiji had clearly warmed up to the main branch of the Hyuga family, he still would take a mission over spending time cooped up training with he head of the house. He could actually put his training to use! And this time, Neiji actually looked healthier than he did during the 'find Naruto' mission.

Go figure.

So they arrived at the Medic-nin academy with plenty of time to spare before eight AM. **7:58**. It was obvious that would be where Fuyumi would be. All academy teachers had dorms in their respective academy. Shino didn't know why that was, or really care why that was either. It was the way it had always been, and it was the way it always would be.

Shino and his two companions stepped into the academy front doors and asked directions to Shen, Fuyumi's dorm. "Oh, Fuyumi-chan," the medic-nin's eyes sparkled as she spoke. "Such handsome men to come see her, hm? Oh ho ho, last door on the left down that hall there." She pointed toward a door.

Shino ignored the woman's odd behavior and simply walked toward the door. It wasn't locked, so he went through it. He had no second thoughts. He was well aware that the teacher's dorms were co-ed, and aside from that, if anyone asked he could simply tell them they had a mission to go on.

Shikamaru and Neiji still didn't know what exactly the mission was—only that they were required to report for it. The letter from the Hokage did state he could take two shinobi who were at least chunin level: Shino chose Jounin Neiji and Chunin Shikamaru. Fuyumi was chosen by the Hokage to accompany as medic-nin, just in case they should encounter trouble.

The three were glad that if a medic-nin would be going along, it would be one experienced enough to be a teacher. That would make her at least double their age and Jounin level, they didn't doubt. However, according to the letter from the Hokage, leadership would be deferred to Shino, something Shino liked very much. Neiji didn't like it so much, and Shikamaru really didn't care either way.

**7:59**. It was close enough. Shino knocked on the door the woman had directed them to. No answer. He knocked again. "Shen, Fuyumi?" he called.

"Maybe bang on it a little?" Shikamaru suggested.

Shino ran a hand through his disheveled hair. He borrowed a line from Shikamaru's book (causing the other shinobi to grin in agreement), "Women are such bothers." He raised his hand to knock again but when he went to pound there was no wood to greet him. Instead, there was only a half-dressed woman standing in the doorway with a feverishly exhausted look on her face.

"Who the hell are you, what the fuck do you want, and why did you disturb my sleep?" She demanded all in one breath. All three males wanted to retreat from that very scary woman, but only their pride kept them rooted. Shino absently toyed with the idea of risking his chances with the dangerous Summon instead of dealing with the freaky woman before him. **8:00**.

True, she wasn't at all a bad sight. In fact, she was a sight for sore eyes. She didn't look much older then them, but then again, Tsunade was at least fifty and she looked twenty-five. The woman had incredibly long hair down to her ankles that seemed to be in varying shades of green, lighter where the light hit it and darker in shadow. Her face was heart-shaped; her flesh a pale ivory color. Her lips were turned down in a scowl, but they were naturally pouty and almost as bright as ripe cherries—real cherries, not pickled.

Through the rather sheer garment she wore (_was that supposed to be a nightgown?!_) they could see she was finely toned in all areas of her body, thoroughly curvaceous, and had round, well-sized breasts. Her thick hair spilled over one of her shoulders and they couldn't help but wonder how the woman could even _carry_ that weight around. Even her bangs reached her chin, framing her adorable (vicious-looking) face.

Her eyes were as green as her hair and they flashed dangerously the longer the boys stood there—none of them able to tear their eyes away from her. Her fist lashed out and Shino found himself acquainted with the ground. Quicker than even Neiji could react, the woman lashed out at the other two boys as well. She then slammed her door shut again, leaving three shinobi lying on the floor massaging sore jaws.

**8:07**. 'Now I know why Hokage-sama warned me to wait…' Shino thought irritably. 'But it was only one minute! Probably less than that!' He had to get up. He had to knock again. But the question was: what was worse? The freaky, beautiful woman, or the deadly, unearthly creature?

xXx

When Kakashi woke up, he was greeted with the sweet scent of white lilies. His eyes fluttered open and as usual, his left eye saw blackness and his right eye was able to see the ceiling above him. Unfortunately the ceiling was clearly not his since his was painted blue and the particular ceiling above him was as white as cotton.

He blinked several times, trying to get his bearings together before realizing there was a heavy weight on his right arm and fingers were curled in his gloved hand. He glanced silently at the sleeping figure and memories of the night before came flooding back to him.

He couldn't believe it. He had literally forgotten himself and killed a man. He couldn't explain what had happened, really. One minute he could see perfectly well that he was holding onto a bastard who had stabbed Kagome, and the next minute it was as though a veil of blood covered his good eye.

It wasn't something he could fully understand. He could remember feeling a fierce sense of protectiveness flood in his system. Kagome was too precious to be harmed. He remembered thinking that. That hadn't happened to him in a long time.

Carefully he reached out with his free arm and brushed Kagome's bangs out of her face though it did no good. The bangs simply fell back how they had been.

Last night after the strange blood-colored veil faded out of Kakashi's vision, all he could feel was pain. He had been sure he was dying at the time, because the pain had gotten so intense. It felt as though he were being slow-roasted from the inside out.

"H-Hatake-san," whispered a nearby voice nervously. Kakashi turned his sight to find Hinata sitting a few feet from where he was lying on the bed. Kagome was propped up on a chair, her upper torso lying on Kakashi's arm and her hand curled in his. "Are you alright?"

Kakashi didn't want the girl to worry so he nodded. "I'm fine, Hinata-chan," he told the girl cheerfully. It wasn't entirely true and he knew it. He'd done something to himself, what it was he didn't know, but it had sent snakes of fiery poison through his blood. It made him nervous to try using chakra again—or… had he formed Maryoku last night?

Kagome's eyes fluttered open and she said, "You're such a liar." Had he been found out? How did Kagome know? Had he not smiled cheerfully enough? Or maybe he hadn't said it naturally enough… But Kagome answered the unasked question without need for any form of prompting. "You can't make that much Maryoku—I don't even want to know _how_ you know how to make it in the first place—but your body can't handle that much strain right away. You can only make as much as your body can handle."

"Oh." He blinked. "You can tell?" he asked it softly, but both girls heard.

"Of course I can tell," she said with a great sigh of exasperation. "You used so much Maryoku I was sure even the dead would wake! I mean, there I was being stitched up—very much unconscious—when suddenly I felt if I didn't wake, I'd die. Good thing I woke up too, because you would have died if I didn't purge your excess Maryoku."

Hinata added, "Kagome-san tore her stitches, Hatake-san. She should be lying down, but she won't listen to me or Sakura-chan."

Kakashi felt his lip twitch in wry amusement. Only a second later he found his mask still in place. A look at himself told him he was still fully clothed, but his vest and gear had been taken off and set aside so he could lie a little more comfortably on the bed. "Now if that doesn't sound like a certain someone?"

Kagome's face flushed scarlet and she said hotly, "That jerk is nothing like me, and I'm not like him!"

Feeling slightly uncomfortable in the room, Hinata quietly took her leave. She didn't know how or why, but those two were somehow on equal ground—and yet Hinata couldn't make up her mind as to which one should be respected more. Certainly it should be Kakashi…but then Hinata would think of the scary dog-man (yes, she had come to decide he was a dog-man, because he talked to dogs) and she just wouldn't know.

Once Hinata was gone, Kakashi asked Kagome, "Are you okay?"

Slightly taken aback by that question, Kagome didn't respond right away. Then she thought about the awful night and all she could do was tell herself to take it in stride and deal with it. So she shrugged. "I'll be fine." The fingers holding his hand became a little tighter. "It's just… there were these girls, and these dangerous men were drugging them and…" she sighed as the words stopped coming out. "I don't want to talk about it," she said finally after a long silence stretched between them.

"But you must have Summoned," Kakashi smiled at her; she could tell by the look in his eye that he was smiling. "Whatever happened, you did what you could to protect those that needed it, didn't you?"

Kagome smiled back at him and nodded. "You know," Kagome told Kakashi absently as she stood slowly and carefully from her chair. "I think my papa would really have liked you, Kakashi-kun."

At that, he laughed. "You know, I think you're right!" he agreed.

* * *

**This chapter had several pieces of somewhat useful information revealed. Thanks for the reviews everybody! **Sand (Sesshoumaru...urg...), Hiei's Cute Girl (-takes cookie and eats it since your only interest in it appears to be hugs- Cookies! Yum!), KuroxTenshi (I rather liked that part too...too bad beefy woman can't have a bigger part in the story. I'm sure she'd have lots of interesting things to say), supersillee06 (Kakashi is...scary...sometimes...), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (How to explain? Perhaps this chapter cleared it up a little?), KibaSin (Don't worry about it. Good luck on your project!), vampiric instincts (bwahaha! You didn't see the spoiler! I was so right: people don't look _there_!), Kagome Lady of Darkness, regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Ashuri Nikouru (I hope this chapter made it clear what Kakashi is or isn't), S.T. Nickolian (I don't want to be around when he does it next time...)

ANSWER: The Silence by Delirium. Listen to it. Just do it.

_As provided in a lot of other chapters... this italicized print at the bottom of the page does have a spoiler for the next chapter: just push the purple-blue button and you'll find it. _


	15. Cruel Past

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. This is not a SasukeNaruto paired story, not that anyone looks here to notice my spoiler..._

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Chapter fifteen: Cruel Past

Kagome smiled fondly at Kakashi before placing a light kiss on his cloth-covered cheek. She hadn't intended to stay in the village long. Once she was sure Kakashi was okay, she was going to leave. With him laughing cheerfully, she was positive he was alright. All she had left to do before she could leave was collect Avei and Kotor.

"Where are you headed now?" Kakashi asked Kagome. His black eye sparkled in questioning, and he pushed the covers off of his body starting to rise from the bed.

"I need to coax Avei and Kotor away from the village girls first off," Kagome told him with a wry smile on her face. She stood straight and watched Kakashi move, placing a hand on her hip. "They're suckers for treats, and I swear they'll get fat if I stay here too long."

Still, Kakashi could see the unrest in Kagome's dark blue eyes. Whatever had happened—she was bothered by it. And she was. Her thoughts fell on the eldest of the girls. Mari had been one of the first girls examined on return. Sakura had done the examination, and she said Mari was pregnant.

Kagome turned around and left the room, walking carefully so she didn't injure or irritate the wounds. She hadn't had enough rest yet to replenish her spent Maryoku, so she wouldn't be able to UnSummon Avei and Kotor.

She stopped outside the small clinic to look at the warming sky. The plain gray tee-shirt the villagers had spared her billowed out with the breeze, and the white shorts caught on her legs. Her knapsack with all her things in it was over her shoulder, still considerably wet as were some of the contents.

Still, she was pleased to have it back.

Other than the fact that there were a dozen girls playing with three giant dogs in the center of the city, there appeared to be no lasting effects on the townspeople. She wondered what had become of the shinobi who she'd left to Sesshoumaru, but none of the girls were able to talk about what they had seen and suffered.

It was understandable. They just wanted to get on with their lives; not many of them were likely to really remember what had actually happened, or what humiliation they'd suffered because they were drugged. They knew what happened, but knowing and remembering were two different things… it was easier to forget what one never remembered.

She sighed. It could have been her. She should have rung the bell sooner. She might have saved one little girl at least a little suffering. But she hadn't.

A hand laid on her shoulder tore her from her thoughts and she turned her face to see Kakashi glancing at her with a comforting smile in his eye. "They're alive. That's what matters most." He was dressed now; the vest over his regular jacket and all of his gear attached.

She turned her face back to the sky and simply nodded her agreement. Life went on, as she was witnessing before her with the village. Sure, some people kept sending small glances at the girls as if to assure themselves the girls were there, but even those would disappear eventually.

"I guess…" Kagome murmured.

Kakashi told her, "Don't leave the village without me, Kagome." As he'd expected of her, she didn't question him and simply nodded that she would obey. He would be glad when she was home again. There, people would never dare to try taking advantage of her. There, people would never dare to harm her.

He watched as she moved slowly toward Avei and Kotor and began addressing the two. After a moment or two, Kagome's attention turned to the village girls and she talked to them in soft tones. Really, Kakashi was amazed to see how fast the village was preparing to heal. Then again, it was possible that the village was declining very slowly. No one seemed to be talking about what happened.

Looking around, Kakashi found Hinata and Sakura sitting together on a bench in the city center. He walked over by them and was greeted with worried eyes on both girl's parts. "Kakashi-sensei, are you feeling okay?" Sakura asked, her hands braced on her knees. Hinata was poking her forefingers together nervously; doubtlessly they had been having 'girl-talk' before he interrupted.

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan," he told his old student and she gave him a brilliant relieved smile. "Have you seen Naruto?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, not since after you passed out last night. When Kiba returned with those strange dogs, the dogs talked to Naruto quietly and then he stormed off, saying he needed some fresh air. Kiba went with him."

Hinata added softly, "K-Kiba-kun was the only one wh-who heard the conversation between Naruto-kun and those dogs."

Kakashi turned to look at the dogs again, only to find with no small amount of annoyance that Kagome was nowhere in sight. His only reprieve from worry came in the fact that Avei and Kotor were still in the village, so she was close. She wouldn't leave the two massive dogs behind. Still, for his sanity's sake, he went searching her out keeping an eye out for Naruto. Hopefully the idiot didn't go far. Correction: _idiots_. The both of them.

xXx

Sasuke. He was still grinding his teeth over that issue, trying to figure out just what he should do the next time he met the Uchiha. It had mostly been easy to evade the other boy since he was at the hospital under a strict lock-down until Tsunade decided what to do with Sasuke.

But Konohagakure was a small city in terms of avoiding someone. Growing up, Naruto had found that it was real easy to run into people he knew. For instance, his classmate Hinata; she seemed to always be where Naruto was. He'd also noticed Hinata seemed to be rather weak in a physical sense of the word—like she had some sort of illness. She was always falling over or fainting. He made a mental note to inform Neiji of that. Maybe her cousin could convince her to go to the hospital and get that checked.

But that wasn't really the issue he wanted to think about. Sasuke was, and it was just bothering Naruto that Sasuke had been _afraid_ of him. It was Naruto who pushed his best friend away. He hadn't meant to. He only wanted to prove to the world that he was worth something, and after being teamed up with Sasuke he had to push himself harder and faster to make improvements to beat Sasuke.

Naruto had to clench his fists as he recalled memories of his past again—memories of a past spent with a guy he had grown to respect more than anyone. When he was little, just a five year old tyke, he used to meet Sasuke in secret and the two of them would go to Naruto's apartment. Sometimes they would work on homework together. Sometimes they would cook ramen together. Sometimes they would just sit on Naruto's bed talking quietly.

Usually their visitation was limited to a short period just after school, and before Naruto had to go to work (he'd worked odd-jobs for anyone who needed it to pay rent and utilities, and Iruka somehow always ended up buying too much ramen). Unfortunately, though he had been young, he'd always had to work to pay his living expenses on top of going to school. It was due to having to work that his grades suffered so much. Many people just snapped at him to give up school, but Sasuke was smart and helped him understand the more difficult lessons.

They'd had to keep their friendship silent because the Uchiha clan hated Naruto more than any other clan in Konohagakure, and every time Sasuke was caught with Naruto, Sasuke's father would take out the old leather belt and use it on both boys—Naruto more than Sasuke. Needless to say, they had only been caught four times before they caught on.

And then the Uchiha Massacre happened and those first few weeks afterward, Sasuke had stayed at Naruto's lonely studio apartment. Naruto and Sasuke had often fallen asleep holding hands. They would wake up holding tight to one another as if by doing so they could ward away all evil. They were closer than ever, but then one day Sasuke simply wasn't there when Naruto woke up.

He had left in the middle of the night, returning to the Uchiha district. For a year or so, Naruto had tried to stay close to his friend but it just got to be too much to bear to go to the barren Uchiha district and only receive a cold, silent reception by the main mansion's front door.

Naruto had seen Sasuke in school, and that was it. Trying to talk to the guy became as effective as trying to hold an in depth conversation with a brick wall. Sasuke didn't want his friendship and Naruto's grades slipped as he had to work more to keep with his bills and had less time for school work. He'd started skipping school and found company with Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji.

And then, by a stroke of luck more than anything, Naruto graduated and became a Genin. He'd been teamed up with Sasuke; he'd never felt more doomed in his life than when he heard the team. When he'd found out Sasuke's 'One Goal', his heart had plummeted straight to his bowels as years later, Naruto finally found out why Sasuke left him behind.

Naruto wasn't one to make a habit of crying, but that night he had. He'd shed tears because it hurt that the Sasuke Naruto thought he knew seemed to have died and was replaced by an empty shell bent on revenge. And just earlier that day, Naruto had kissed Sasuke—totally by accident—but their rivalry ended up being a massive job and a half, forcing Naruto to do better.

It did help that once he was a Genin Naruto started getting paid to learn, earning enough to pay his bills plus a commission on each mission. He didn't have to continue working several odd-jobs a week.

And as their time together among Team 7 grew, Naruto saw Sasuke begin to melt slowly back into the arrogant jerk he used to be rather than remaining cold and completely unapproachable. Things started going better and better and then one day Sasuke knocked on Naruto's apartment door completely taking Naruto by surprise. He had a small paper bag with Ichiraku To-Go ramen in it.

That was before the Chunin exams started; about three months before. And on their off-duty time, Sasuke started coming more often, sometimes he would bring Ichiraku ramen, and sometimes it was just the package stuff.

Sometimes during those visits, Sasuke wouldn't go home to the Uchiha district and they'd slept together like they used to, quickly finding out that Naruto's small bed wasn't designed for two people. It didn't deter them, really, and that first time he'd decided to stay again was after Sasuke had already left for the night. So, Naruto had woken up to find himself in his pajamas—wearing the ridiculous cap Sasuke once gave him—and holding onto his best friend like a teddy bear.

He had assumed that Sasuke must have come back while Naruto was sleeping and slipped in bed beside him. Naruto actually didn't mind. Their relationship was a love-hate one anyway. Both fought to beat the other.

But after the Forest of Death during the Chunin exam, Sasuke started to get distant again. Naruto knew now that it was because he'd been cursed that Sasuke backed off, but that still didn't make Naruto forgive the boy for leaving him again later on to go to Orochimaru. Naruto had been crushed when he woke up to find he had failed to bring Sasuke back.

At the time, he'd thought a lot about his friend and there were many things he berated himself for. Was he not a good enough friend? Did he not care enough? There was nothing that Naruto wouldn't do to make Sasuke happy, but he left.

And it was Naruto's fault.

But Sasuke came back again. Naruto simply wasn't sure he could continue with whatever it was they had together. Not anymore. Maybe Naruto did scare Sasuke, but Naruto wasn't sure he could keep being the puppet: used when necessary.

And that brought Naruto straight into the other topic bothering him. Sasuke came back to warn Naruto not to learn koumajutsu, believing Naruto to have the capability to Summon. Naruto had met the fox demon Kyuubi—who he'd thought all that time was sealed inside him—and had been called 'Summoner'. Surely the two were not coincidental, right?

Sasuke had come back only to warn Naruto and then die. He didn't come back to be with the people who had supported him as he grew up, or the friends who cared about him. He _wanted_ to die. It was enough to disturb anyone and worse still, Naruto had basically told his friend if he wanted to die, then just to do it—but he then had told Sasuke he wouldn't forgive the boy for running away.

He wanted to, but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to do it. Naruto could admit that Sasuke was one of the most important people in his life. He could admit that he felt a strange sort of bond… that he felt _love_ for Sasuke. But Sasuke had betrayed Konoha, and turned his back on Naruto when he did so. How could he be friends with someone like that?

"Hey, man, you okay?" Kiba asked Naruto. The two of them were sitting up in the steeple of the village's small church, right underneath the bell. Naruto knew why Kiba was there with him; those strange dogs had greeted Naruto as a Summoner, almost as if they knew Naruto. The dogs then proceeded to inquire about Naruto's childhood and _what was it like growing up with such parents as his?_ With a _traitorous_ mother and a _heroic_ father… Both dead…

Naruto looked at his friend's worried face. "Yeah, I'm okay. Why would you think," he began.

"Your eyes," Kiba explained. Naruto's hand immediately went to his eyes and he found he was crying. He used his sleeve to wipe the tears away and no more came. He did suppose it would be better if he stopped brooding, but it seemed as if everything wanted to happen at once.

He met Kyuubi for real just a few days ago, and the next morning found out who his parents must be. The next day he found out Sasuke had come back. It was too much at once; he wasn't sure he was processing the brash statement the dog Avei had made: that his mother had been a traitor.

"Sorry," Naruto told Kiba.

Kiba shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He said. "I cried today when I found out my cousin's pregnant, so you're not the only wimp around the block."

"Gee thanks," Naruto said dryly, "that makes me feel better."

Kiba sighed. "You know, I used to live in this village. My sister had moved to Konohagakure with my dad when our parents separated. My dad took me in immediately after my mom's death, and my sister helped him a lot raising me. I think I was four when that happened." Naruto knew what Kiba was doing. He was trying to fill the silence with something, so neither of them had to suffer on their thoughts.

Naruto was grateful for it. "I was delivering newspapers by the time I was four." Kiba looked at Naruto in slight shock. Naruto braced his arms on his upturned knees. "It's true. I also worked a small milk route; I had to be quick and careful, because if any milk jars broke, the cost was taken out of my paycheck, and if I wasn't quick the milk spoiled and I had to pay for that too."

"But, what about the academy? You should've been enrolled at age three, right? And four is just too young to be working!" Kiba seemed bothered by it, but Naruto didn't blame him. But it was still Naruto's past, and Naruto wouldn't ever escape the truth.

"My foster parents used to tell me I'd never make it at the academy, that I didn't have the brain capacity to be a shinobi, so they wouldn't pay tuition or enrollment fees for me. When I was three and a half, I got into an argument with them and they kicked me out into the streets."

Kiba looked absolutely horrified by that, as if he couldn't fathom anyone kicking a _three year old_ out into the streets for an argument. "Kicked you out?" He asked, as if hoping to have heard wrong.

Naruto shrugged. "I'll probably never understand why they really kicked me out, because I was only arguing over eating pea balls. I hate those things—unless they're in ramen. Then they're okay, I guess."

"How can you talk about that so casually?" the leather-clad man asked, that look of horror still on his face.

Again Naruto's shoulders lifted in a shrug. "It wasn't so bad. I learned where all the fruit and vegetable gardens in Konoha are. The best ones were in the Uchiha district, and I made a game of sneaking in."

"Sneaking?" Kiba shook his head. "Why would you have to sneak?"

"Because if I was caught, I was whipped and tossed out of the district." Kiba tried stifling a gasp, but it didn't work. Naruto heard it. "I still remember the day I met Sasuke, too." Kiba kept as silent as possible, watching Naruto's calm face as he spoke of his past. Kiba wanted to know why Naruto never told anyone all that, and remembered all the hardships Naruto seemed to go through in the past. Naruto was always so exhausted during school as they grew up; sometimes he would fall asleep while waiting for his turn at the kunai targets.

"I'd snuck into the Uchiha mansion grounds; they used to have the best apple trees. Sasuke caught me stealing apples. I asked him if he was going to tattle on me but he had only stared at me with a curious look on his face. Then his brother, Itachi, the guy who went insane, came looking for Sasuke. When Itachi saw me, he reached up into a higher branch where the riper apples were and pulled down two. He held them out to me—my hands were already full, though." Naruto could easily picture the look on Itachi's face that day. It was definitely not the look of an insane man, or one who would lose their mind in a few years.

At the time, Naruto hadn't been able to figure out what that look said, but now thinking back he thought it might have been the look of one who cared. Itachi was the first person Naruto could remember ever seeming to care.

"Then, Itachi told me to wait a moment and gave the two ripe apples to Sasuke to hold. He'd called me Uzumaki-sama, and I always wondered how he knew my name—I never gave it to him. But Sasuke's father came calling for Sasuke and as his voice came closer, I knew I couldn't wait. I took off with what apples I did have before I could be caught. I never got to find out what Itachi wanted me to wait for."

"Maybe he went to turn you in?" Kiba suggested tentatively.

"Maybe, maybe not." Naruto shrugged. "But I don't think he did. I met Iruka-sensei when I was four, and he convinced my current landlady to rent out her smallest apartment to me. Iruka-sensei helped me find work to pay my rent and made sure my employers paid me properly. He taught me to manage money and save money and cook and clean. He always came to tuck me in bed on days when he wasn't on a mission, and he'd leave money on my table when he could, or a bag of instant ramen cups."

Yes, Iruka cared, he remembered very well. Those days with Iruka around were always the best. Iruka had essentially taught Naruto everything he knew from fighting to money management to reading. When he was a little tyke, Naruto could remember Iruka would pick him up and carry him on his shoulders. It was always such an amazing feeling to look at the world from Iruka's shoulders.

Kiba was surprised to find his own eyes damp and quickly wiped away the signs of his own distress. How could Naruto live like he had? Kiba admired Naruto's strength for doing what he had—something adults had difficulty doing, Naruto had been forced to do when he was _three_. To leave the home he should have grown up in, live in the streets, and pilfering food from gardens when people weren't looking… Then having to hold several jobs at age four to pay for rent… It was horrible.

"How did you get into school then? And how did you pay tuition?" Kiba asked.

"I was five at the time I was enrolled. Someone had sent me money for me to be enrolled in at the academy. I never found out who it was. It was given to me in cash through the mail, anonymously. The money was to cover five years tuition plus enrollment fees. Iruka hadn't given me the money, but it was clearly addressed to me, so he told me to use it. The next day I was enrolled at the school, but since I was two years behind everyone, Iruka asked if someone could tutor me. Sasuke's older brother Itachi had been there that day and he agreed to take me on."

Kiba shifted so he could look at Naruto's face closer. "You mean… the crazy Uchiha actually tutored you?"

"Yeah. It had to be someone at least Genin level, and Itachi had been considering becoming a teacher. Academy master Flint said it would be a good trial period for Itachi. So on top of going to school and trying to understand what everyone else was learning, and working early paper routes and milk routes every day, I spent two hours a day in the Uchiha district with Itachi."

Naruto could remember one particular day vividly. It was a cold, soggy day in February. He'd gone to the Uchiha mansion for his daily lessons with Itachi and rang the doorbell. Instead of the maid answering, however, it was the head of the household. He'd taken Naruto by the arm, gnashing his teeth together as he slammed the door shut behind them.

Naruto had felt very afraid, especially when the old buzzard started ranting about killing him for trespass. He'd tried to tell the elder man that Itachi told him to come, that they would train in the Uchiha dojo again, but the man wouldn't listen. Naruto always wondered where Itachi had been that it made him late that day, but he was late and the old man took his leather belt and beat Naruto until the five-year-old couldn't move.

Then when Itachi _did_ get there, Naruto had to watch father and son confront each other. Itachi's eyes had both been swirling with the red Sharingan eyes; he was absolutely livid. Itachi had said, "Get the hell away from Uzumaki-sama," in the deadliest voice Naruto had ever heard. There was no lost love between Itachi and his father, and Naruto had wondered why.

The father had said, "Watch yourself, boy," to Itachi, equally as cold. He'd lifted a small heart-shaped red jewel from his pocket, showing it to Itachi. Itachi had growled—quite literally—at the sight of it, and the father added mercilessly, "Or I might have to do it." The father had pressed slightly on the jewel, and it was strange to see that small piece of stone squeeze a little. "You _belong_ to _me_."

Itachi had placed a hand over his heart and fallen to his knees, gasping for breath. Naruto had struggled to his feet. He still didn't know what the jewel was to that day, but whatever it was he knew that it was the reason why the father could hurt Itachi.

Taking one of the kunai Iruka had bought for him as a congratulations gift for going to school, Naruto had rushed at Itachi's father, howling in outrage. With one flick of his hand, the father's belt connected with Naruto's left side and a week later Naruto woke in the hospital. Iruka and Itachi were there.

He never got an explanation why Itachi had fallen over when his father squeezed that jewel, but after that Itachi started going out of his way to pick Naruto up from school and he would walk him home. After six months being tutored by Itachi, the older man announced that Naruto was caught up and told Academy master Flint as much.

Naruto didn't see much of Itachi after that; he decided against becoming a teacher, though Naruto never knew why. In class, Naruto's grades started drooping after Itachi's tutoring sessions ended. He'd had to get another job because his utilities bill came back higher than usual due to the fact that his toilet was leaking. He'd had to replace the flapper which cost him only three dollars, but that bill was still there and needed to be paid for.

So on top of his two morning jobs, working the milk and newspaper routes seven days a week, he started working as a delivery boy for a nearby restaurant four out of seven nights a week for three hours a day.

Due to his wilting grades, Naruto was assigned to a 'study buddy' and that ended up being Sasuke. Needless to say, the head of the Uchiha clan was less than pleased. He allowed Sasuke to partake in the study buddy program only because it made him look good that his youngest son was tutoring.

But Naruto and Sasuke ended up with a 'budding' relationship, a strange friendship that included ramen and homework. When the elder Uchiha found out about that, he whipped both boys—but that didn't deter Sasuke. Naruto had thought Sasuke would stay away from the trouble Naruto seemed to bring, but Sasuke defied his father and continued to meet with Naruto every day after school.

They were caught together three more times, twice at Ichiraku ramen and once shopping for Naruto's groceries at the food market. They were beaten for each time, before they started to get the hang of hiding their friendship.

"By the time I was seven," Naruto continued, "I had five jobs. I got up at three in the morning for a two hour newspaper route, and then a two hour milk route. At eight in the morning, I arrived at the academy and at three I left. I went home and showered," Naruto added, 'and spent an hour with Sasuke,' mentally, "then I went to work at four thirty on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at G & F Plumbing and worked until eight thirty. Tuesdays and Thursdays I went to work at Peir's Pastry Products, delivering home orders from four until eight. Then on Saturday and Sunday, I went to work at Stienem's Construction Company where I worked from nine in the morning till six at night."

Kiba's jaw dropped open. "Is that even legal?" he demanded. It was outrageous that a child of seven would be allowed to _work_, and Naruto was working practically eight hour days seven days a week. That was the equivalent of a full time job plus overtime! It was ridiculous. Kiba could finally understand why Naruto liked to sleep in a bit in the morning.

"It isn't like I was given jobs I couldn't handle," Naruto told his friend. "And yes, it _is_ legal because there is no law _against_ a kid working. Konoha doesn't have a set age for how old someone had to be before they could start working. I'm glad there isn't one, too, or I'd have been in a lot of trouble."

"Did you ever hear from your foster parents again?" Kiba asked.

Naruto smirked slightly. "Yes, as a matter of fact." His eyes turned upward toward the bell not too far from where they were seated. He cracked his knuckles one by one before continuing, a look of humor in his eyes all of a sudden. "When I was ten, my foster father started working at Stienem's. He got a hold of my paycheck stub and was irate to find I was making more in two days than he did in five."

Kiba grinned widely. "Serves the jerk right, treating you like that." He said righteously. Then he paused and glanced sidelong at Naruto. "You know, you're always welcome at my place, right?"

Naruto shuddered slightly. "Yeah, sure," he said wryly, "the last time I went, Akamaru ate my butt. I think I'll stick with my stuffy little apartment. It's butt-eater free." Kiba laughed.

* * *

**Happy birthday to me (last Tuesday), happy birthday to me (last Tuesday), happy birth-a-day-to-me-ee (still last Tuesday), I want 21 reviews as a belated birthday pre-se-nt (hehe, being evil is fun)! Thanks for the reviews everybody! **Skitzoflame (glad you like it), regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, ancient-relic (blah, "soon as I can" ended up being "later than usual"... I should really work on my other stories, like WAH, but I'm so lazy and this one is funner), Dark Inu Fan (you make me laugh. You're close, but it is not to be), supersillee06 (note: she is crazier than Tsunade, and I'm going to have so much fun with her. Want a secret? She's going to be related to BLEEP. Haha!), SandK, Hiei's Cute Girl (so what's my punishment? -eats two giant cookies with a nice fat glass of milk- remember if you kill the author, no more chapters, so please keep it at severe torture but "not quite death"), Inveigler (Actually, you're the one telling you that, but it seems to be true! Yay?), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (New song for you to check out: Waiting, waiting for you in my dreamland, talking about you in my heaven, tell me that you'll be there... can you name it? Wait till you find what's in the scroll...hahaha! It's gonna be funny to watch Kakashi get mad), KuroxTenshi (Shino is a funny, funny guy), Kagome Lady of Darkness. 

ANSWER: I wonder how many people will comment on that tiny little bit of information I threw in there... Really, I don't know how it happened, but oh well, I'll work with it. -cruel laughter-

_I can't believe how popular this story is! It's jumped to 3rd place out of all of my stories! Thanks everyone for every single review, and I do hope you review again!_


	16. Conditional Punishment

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

* * *

Chapter sixteen: Conditional Punishment

Kagome stood in front of the boarded up old shack, a frown marring her features. This was it. She didn't have to go in. She could just let someone else take care of it, but she needed to finish the job she started. She didn't have time last night, what with Kakashi's situation and then shortly afterward Avei and Kotor came with the girls.

But now she had the time. She lifted the flap on her bag and pulled out the mess of jewelry, untangling the lengths of chain and attaching each item to her body. She tucked the Shikon no Tama pendant under her tee-shirt. Next she took out the comb made of gray bone and her kunai.

Because of her lack of Maryoku, if she needed to Summon, she'd have to submit her blood to the Summoning. Finally she looked at the door to the shack. The villagers hadn't put a guard on it because Avei and Kotor told them not to. The dogs _wanted_ the shinobi to run, because they wanted to chase them.

Which might have something to do with why the shinobi were still there… "Okay, Kagome," she told herself, trying to stall the emotional turmoil that was beginning to build. Was it right of her to do what she was going to? Or should she just leave it to someone like Kakashi?

But no, it wouldn't make a difference who did it. Someone had to, and with the help of a Summon, she could make the process as painless as possible for those girls. "I can do this," she said before reaching out and pulling the latch on the door. The door swung open, revealing a dark interior and several shadowed figures crumpled up on the ground in heaps.

She reached out, grasping for the light switch the girls had said was next to the door on the wall. She flipped it on and immediately saw something wrong with the scene. There were only _six_ shinobi, but if memory served her properly, there had been eight. One was killed, so that meant seven shinobi should be in the shack.

She moved closer to one of them and nudged them with her foot. The body shifted, revealing blood heavily soaking into the dirt and a slit throat. 'He's been dead less than ten minutes or he wouldn't move so easily,' she thought. She checked the others and found identical wounds.

But the lusty man who had dragged her out of the hot spring was not among the dead. Perfectly timed, the door to the shack swung shut and her eyes shot toward it…

xXx

Sasuke glared at the medical bands restraining him to the hospital bed. Ino had explained they had chakra and strength leeching jutsus on them, for obstinate people like him. Not that the medical bands seemed to notice his utter dislike of them, but it seemed to be the principle of the matter, really.

It took all of his self-restraint to keep from killing Ino every time she came to check on him. Even though he was fully healed, with only scars remaining, he was kept in the hospital room. Either Ino or some other nurse would come to check up on him or feed him when it was time.

It didn't seem like Ino was still crushing over him. No, now she held herself with an air to her that had been lacking back then. She really had grown beautiful over the years, but as always there was something in her voice that really set his blood boiling. He really had never been able to stand women.

He supposed that was mostly because he found them useless. Other than their ability to bear children, they lacked purpose in life. They never listened, they cared more about their hair than anything real, and they formed useless fan clubs and followed people around.

It was a real wonder how they managed to live as long as they had.

Sasuke clenched his fist and struggled against the bonds again. Again, he felt his strength leeching out of him until his struggles ceased. In his mind, he questioned why he wasn't in jail. If he wasn't sent to jail for his betrayal of Konoha, surely he would be for nearly killing Naruto.

Clicking heels on the floor alerted Sasuke to the fact that someone was approaching his room—or someone was going to walk by. Indeed, someone did come into the room. That someone was Ino. Instead of the white nurse's uniform, Ino wore a revealing blue top over bandages so nothing actually showed of her flesh except her stomach, and her legs were covered with white bandages on her thighs and a blue jean skirt. Her military boots were what clicked.

Two ANBU members stepped into the room after Ino, one wearing a white cat mask and the other wearing a panda mask. 'This is it,' he thought. 'Finally something will happen, one way or another.'

Ino crossed her arms over her chest for a moment, tapping her toe as though debating her options. Then she seemed to decide; she nodded once as though to herself and said, "Hokage-sama wants to see you. If you promise to behave, we'll let you walk on your own. Any sign of aggression and you'll be dragged wearing the medical bands. Got it?"

Yes, there was something definitely different about her. But Sasuke just shrugged. "Understood," he replied evenly.

"Lovely!" she chirped before stepping across the room. From her nin-kit on her left hip, she pulled a fat syringe out. Strapped down to the bed as he was, he couldn't really stop her from pressing that needle into his veins.

"What is that?" he asked, more out of curiosity than anything. He couldn't feel it, though the needle was large enough that hardened sailors would cringe in fear of it.

"It's a tracking device developed two years ago by an independent supplier. There's a micro chip in the liquid. I'm putting it just beneath your main artery in your wrist." She pulled the needle out and he saw there was a small bubble in his flesh. "In a day or so, the liquid will soak into your muscles and leave only the chip behind."

"Wonderful," he drawled. She dropped the syringe in a disposal container on the wall and moved back to his side, removing the straps on his wrists and then his waist and finally his ankles.

"Hey," Ino said in defense, "it wasn't _my_ stupid idea for you to run away." She waved for the panda ANBU to step forward. The ANBU presented a small bag and set it on the bed beside Sasuke. "I'll give you three minutes to get dressed and whether you like it or not, I'm coming back in." She turned and stepped out, but the two ANBU remained in the room.

He climbed off the hospital bed, standing on shaky feet. He knew it was likely going to be at least thirty minutes for the strength jutsu's effect to wear off. He cursed Ino. She probably knew that too. But he didn't waste time. He pulled the hospital gown off, not in the slightest bit concerned that he was naked beneath it and there were others in the room.

He'd been provided with undergarments (boxers and an undershirt), a simple white haori and orange hakama with black trim on the outer seams. The hakama didn't quite reach his ankles, and wearing the colors made him feel like Naruto somehow. Then he noticed the large black and orange symbol on the back of the white haori. An orange whirlpool swirl was circled by a black thick line. 'I'm wearing…Naruto's…' he thought.

His eyes narrowed minutely at the realization but he mentioned nothing to the two ANBU of his thoughts and pulled the sandals out. They weren't like his old combat footwear. They were formal split toe sandals with the split toe white stockings—only, as usual, it seemed Naruto's "formal" stockings were the same ridiculous orange he was always so fond of.

He was just putting on the sandals when Ino came back in. "Any trouble?" she asked the ANBU. They shook their heads. "Good," she said and nodded.

With the sandals secure on his feet, Sasuke stood upright. No more words were exchanged, except a brief, "Let's go," from the panda ANBU. Sasuke sighed inaudibly and ran his hand over his stubbly hair. Ino led the way out of the hospital and to the Hokage tower. The two ANBU walked on either side of Sasuke.

He had some difficulties walking at first, but slowly his strength was forced to return and by the time they reached the tower, he was no longer tripping his way. He wasn't granted an immediate audience with Tsunade, but he had expected that. She would want to show him he wasn't worth her time. She would do so by making him wait and then at the last possible moment she would have him called in as though he were an afterthought or else she would act like she were granting him some boon by seeing him.

Even though she was the one who wanted to see him.

That was exactly how it happened. Just when Sasuke wanted to start wringing necks with the impatience over what was going to happen to him, the door to the Hokage's office opened. Instead of Shizune opening the door as he remembered used to happen, it was Tsunade herself. That confused him, because it didn't fit. The attendee would have answered the door, right? Unless… was there a new Hokage?

"Thank you, Ino." Tsunade told the girl. It was a dismissal for Ino. Ino bowed respectfully and left the waiting room. Tsunade turned her eyes on Sasuke and regarded him closely before tilting her head to the inside of her office. He didn't need further urging. He stepped forward into the interior, the ANBU following.

Inside the room, the interrogator Ibiki and Sasuke's old academy teacher Iruka stood off to the side. The council of elders were present standing by the windows—a great number of them frowned openly when they saw him. The two ANBU members took up positions by the door. In front of the desk on the open floor they had placed a hard wood seat.

"Have a seat, Uchiha," Tsunade told Sasuke. He followed the instructions as he was told and sat in the seat. He folded his hands in his lap and watched Tsunade closely. She was Hokage, so she would be the one to watch. Anyone else would take their cue from her.

It didn't take Sasuke more than two seconds to sit down, but Tsunade made small-talk anyway. "I trust the clothes Naruto-kun provided for you are to your taste?"

"Very," he couldn't help but drawl. He swore the only person in the world who could make orange work in large quantities was Naruto.

A ghost smile flicked on Tsunade's features. "Good, good." She said, nodding. "Now then, down to business. I believe you know why you are here?"

He shrugged. "No, actually. I _should_ be in jail for betrayal and civil disobedience, and if not for that, then for attempted murder."

Tsunade frowned. "Naruto never brought up charges for what you did, or else yes, you _would_ be in jail. Though everyone knows you beat the shit out of him, he remains tight to the story that he 'fell down'." Sasuke couldn't keep the surprise from his face. "No, today we will be dealing with the charge of desertion."

She waved her hand to Ibiki. Sasuke looked and saw the scarred man was slowly swirling the liquid in a tea cup. Sasuke wasn't stupid; inside that cup was a truth serum. He didn't feel like wasting his time. Ibiki moved forward and gave the cup of liquid to Sasuke.

Sasuke stared down into the amber liquid for a second before saying, "This won't work on me."

"Humor me," Ibiki grumbled.

Sasuke shrugged; he didn't have much of a choice. Whether or not he _wanted_ to waste time with something that wouldn't work, he would have to. Here, they called the shots. It really was his own fault for allowing fear to control him that he was even in this position. So he cooperated nicely with their wishes even though his very nature told him to rebel.

He tilted the liquid into his mouth and swallowed it gulp after gulp until there was none left, then opened his mouth so Ibiki could see he'd drank it all. Sasuke could still taste the vile trail left behind by the liquid. When Ibiki backed up with a small look of surprise on his face, he knew it had begun.

"Ibiki?" Tsunade asked.

"Stop using the Sharingan, boy," Ibiki scowled.

"I can't," Sasuke told him. "I've trained the Sharingan to activate and nullify the effect of drugs, so it's not a conscious effort."

Tsunade also scowled. One of the council members said, "So make the conscious effort to _stop_ the Sharingan!" Another council member nodded in agreement.

Sasuke said logically, "Even if I wanted to I wouldn't. It took me two years to train the Sharingan to do what it's doing now. It would only take _one_ time of stopping it to confuse the Sharingan into thinking I don't want it to do it every time. Since it is apparent you want me alive, I'm not going to stop the Sharingan. Do you have a bucket?"

Several of the council members looked outraged. One of them muttered, "That's why I never fucking liked the Uchiha clan," probably thinking he'd spoken too quiet to be heard by Sasuke. "They're bastards, and never listen."

"Whether or not you _like_ me isn't the issue, elderman," Sasuke told him. "Again, I'm asking if there's a bucket around." Tsunade took her waste bin from beneath her desk and gave it to Sasuke. There was a look of confusion on her face. Sasuke simply set the bucket at his feet for the moment and continued, "If you really feel like wasting your time with the standard interrogation processes, I will without complaint submit to them."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "Wasting our time, hm?" he asked.

Sasuke shrugged. He knew the Sharingan was still activated. "The Sharingan will immediately nullify any chakra attack on my mind, and will nullify the effects of drugs, through unconscious effort simply because I trained it to do so. And physical torture won't work because I can't feel pain."

Tsunade grumbled, "We are already aware that physical torture wouldn't work, and we weren't going to go that far."

"So what now, Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked from where he was against the side wall.

"I have a proposal," Sasuke told them seriously. They looked at him with varying looks. Some council members seemed angry that he continued talking, others looked curious. Iruka looked slightly worried, and Ibiki had again raised one eyebrow. Tsunade seemed frustrated and her fists clenched and unclenched.

"Speak, boy," Ibiki told him.

He could hear his stomach gurgling unhappily. He could remember this part of the process used to be incredibly painful for him until he simply woke up one day, unable to feel any pain in his body. It was almost as if his body was tired of being sore all the time, so it simply didn't register. "If you want an answer, ask the question."

Several of them looked incredulous at his suggestion. Surprisingly, Iruka was the first to recover. "Why did you run away?"

Sasuke could easily answer the question with as simple as one word. "Fear."

"Fear of what?" Iruka urged.

"Naruto," was the response. There were many wide eyes among the council members. "He had made drastic improvements under Jiraiya, while I saw none in myself. If I could not beat an idiot like Naruto, I knew I could not even hope to match Itachi's strength, and that was why I became a shinobi in the first place: to kill Itachi." He saw several council members share smirks.

"And Orochimaru promised you power," Tsunade asked.

"He did." Sasuke slipped off the stool and knelt on the floor. Without another word, he grabbed the bucket and vomited up the drugs he'd been fed, and he continued vomiting until he had nothing left. When there was nothing left, he dry heaved.

Finally his stomach settled again and he was able to relax a little. Tsunade offered him a kerchief which he accepted and wiped his mouth with. "Done?" Tsunade asked. Sasuke nodded, closing his Sharingan eyes. When he opened them again, they were the ordinary black, and one of the ANBU were taking away the bucket of vomit.

"Why did you come back?" one of the council members asked.

Sasuke simply looked up at the council member for a moment, regarding him carefully. "Not that I expect your pea-brain to understand, but I didn't expect to make it back here. My escape from Orochimaru was too clumsy. I ended up grievously injured. Kabuto betrayed Orochimaru by kicking me off the cliff and into the Abyss River."

Tsunade and the council members all looked shocked. "The Abyss? Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course I am," Sasuke said, sending her a slight glare.

Tsunade frowned. "I never thought Orochimaru would be that far north."

"That still doesn't answer my question." The council member snapped. "Why did you come back?"

Irritated at the council member's tone, Sasuke said, "Because a woman shoved me in a goat cart and brought me."

Ibiki sent a warning glance at the council member—not that the elder took heed to it of course. "What did you want with Naruto?" Ibiki asked.

Sasuke opened his mouth to tell the truth, but for some reason a lie came out. "I wanted to see him." 'What the hell?' he asked himself. He kept his face blank as he tried to figure out what was stopping him from telling Tsunade what he knew about Orochimaru's plans.

The reason then spoke in his mind. _Aw, poor baby… can't figure out why you're lying? How about a hint then? It starts with a 'K'. _The voice in his head started laughing wickedly.

"What did you want to see him for?" Tsunade asked.

Again, that voice interfered with Sasuke's honest answer. "For forgiveness." 'That's not the whole reason,' Sasuke thought. He tried to open his mouth to say more, but he couldn't.

_You seem to be upset, Sasuke-kun,_ the voice snickered. _Any particular reason why?_

He had to tell them; they could stop Naruto from learning koumajutsu. It was important that Orochimaru never got the opportunity to learn it. If Naruto learned it, it was possible Orochimaru might find a way to as well; if Orochimaru got his hands on Sasuke again, there was no doubt Orochimaru _would_ learn it.

_Naruto does not want them to know what you told them. That's why I'm stopping you._ The voice said seriously. _We might get along nicely if you can keep your mouth shut, otherwise I'll just have to prove to you that you really can feel pain, as long as the right person knows what he's doing._

Tsunade sighed and began, "Alright, for now I think that's enough questioning."

One of the council members instantly raised their voice in a shout. "Enough!? We should get every piece of information on Orochimaru's hideout, his weaknesses, and launch a full-blown attack immediately!"

"If you want to take over as Hokage and start a war, feel free." Tsunade snapped. "I'd be more than happy to go back to gambling and drinking."

"Did someone mention drinking?" a sudden voice piped up from the doorway. Sasuke turned his head and looked around the legs of the seat to see Jiraiya standing there. His cheeks were a little rosy and he had a slight gait in his steps as he walked into the room, inch by inch. "Are beautiful women involved?"

Tsunade clenched and unclenched her fists, grinding her teeth. "No, Jiraiya. I can't believe you're drunk already. It's not even noon yet!"

"Ah, Tsu-tsu," Jiraiya chuckled, "there is such a thing as being _too_ serious. And when I say," he hiccupped and then tipped over on his behind, laughing a little, "that I've not had a bit to drink, I'm completely," he hiccupped again, "utterly, without fault, serious. So what's this meeting thingy you wanted me to attend?"

Tsunade looked incredibly violent at the moment. The council members edged around the room and silently left. Sasuke wondered if it was safe to remain where he was—between Tsunade and the one she was angry with, if the council members were worried enough to just leave. "You were _supposed_ to be here an HOUR ago!" Tsunade yelled.

"Oh really?" Jiraiya hiccupped and looked at the clock. "I guess I'm a wee bit late then, aren't I!" he chirped.

Tsunade said through clenched teeth, "Ibiki, get that drunkard out before I murder him." Ibiki nodded and helped Jiraiya to his feet, leading the old man out. That left only Iruka, Sasuke, Tsunade, and the remaining ANBU member.

Tsunade paced for several minutes before she was calm enough to speak again. By that time, Sasuke had gotten up and sat back on the seat. Tsunade sat down in her desk chair and folded her hands in front of her face, her eyes crinkled in a focused expression. Sasuke knew the look; he'd often sat in an identical position when addressing people and feeling an urge to hide his emotions. He could hide the lower half of his face—therefore much of his emotions were also disguised.

Unfortunately, Tsunade's eyes still gave her fury away.

Finally she said, "The standard punishment for running away like you did is three years house arrest, is it not, Iruka?" The teacher nodded. "You would be assigned two ANBU guards; one to accompany you in daylight hours, the other to accompany you at night. While under house arrest, you will be reduced to civilian status. Unless given express permission from me, you are not allowed to leave Konohagakure."

Sasuke nodded. He felt he deserved worse, but at the same time he was grateful there was already a standard punishment. That meant he wasn't the first one who ever ran away, and it gave him a small hope that someday he might be able to reintegrate himself into his old life in Konoha. If there was a standard punishment, then that meant others must have run for varying reasons.

"However," Sasuke's small peck of hope was stabbed multiple times when Tsunade said that word. "You are a special case, being that you are an Uchiha. When you ran away, as the heir to the Uchiha district, you revoked your right to it. Out of respect for your friends who hoped for your return—Naruto who never stopped looking for you—we waited one year from the date you left. When you did not come back, I took the space provided in the Uchiha district and the construction company with the highest bid got it. It is still under construction, but all old buildings are gone. The city cannot prosper with a massive empty district. Without the land taxes, we were loosing more money on maintenance of the roads, on sewage maintenance, and on electric line repair. As you should know, those lines are all directly connected to the Hyuga district on the east and the academy district to the north."

Sasuke felt a slight pang of loss hearing that his home would be gone. But he nodded. He couldn't let himself be affected by that news. He had to remind himself that emotions were useless for a person who could not feel physical pain.

"When Sakura returns from her mission, you may speak with her about your belongings. She, Ino, and Hinata took it upon themselves to pack up the items in the main house and move it to storage. Sakura has kept the key." Tsunade grabbed a pen from her desk and a pad of paper. She proceeded to write down something, but he didn't bother to find out what it was though it would have been easy.

Tsunade continued, "Sakura has paid over three thousand dollars of her own money for the storage of your things in the past two years. You will find out how much she spent and repay her every cent of it before the year ends."

A quick calculation told him it was a little under seven months until the year ended. If he was going to be reduced to civilian status, he would have to find a job or hope the items in storage were salvageable. He knew many of his family's things were worth more than his life—as had been pointed out many times by Sasuke's mother when she would get frustrated.

"I believe Ino should have inserted a tracking bug in your body, correct?" Tsunade asked.

"If that was the micro chip she mentioned, yes," Sasuke told Tsunade.

"Normally such high technology isn't used." He felt very annoyed that it was used on him then. She seemed to realize he was not pleased to be treated differently. "As I said, you're a special case. Only one other person in recorded history has had that sort of thing used on them, except on him it was a band worn on his ankle. However, he proved to not care of the consequences and took the band off. That is why we used the micro chip for you. You can't take it off."

His curiosity got the better of him. "Who was it?"

Tsunade smiled in irritation. "Itachi," she said.

Sasuke wished he hadn't asked—or that she hadn't answered. His frustration grew high as he realized he was like his brother. He didn't want to be like Itachi, in any way.

Tsunade kept going. "But Itachi had it for a very different reason. I won't go into that for now. You're not ready for it yet, and the council still forbids the topic to be broached." He tried to keep himself calm. He _hated_ being told he wasn't 'ready' for something. It made him feel like a child.

Iruka cleared his throat slightly, and Tsunade immediately got back on track. "Anyway, the reason why we're using the tracking bug in you is because the council and I have decided to alter the punishment terms." Again he felt irritated that he would be treated differently. "I spoke with the council members, and we reviewed Naruto's history in Konoha. He is most definitely a loyal citizen and he has an outstanding record for failing his missions."

Sasuke knew that confusion was splayed over his face quite obviously. "What?"

"Continuing on," Tsunade said importantly, "I simply do not have two ANBU to spare that can watch you for three years, which is why we are altering the punishment terms. Instead, Naruto will take full responsibility for you. He will help you get a civilian job and teach you to be a civilian. That will be his mission, and if he cannot do this, I'll simply have to put you in jail for three years." Sasuke tried to swallow the sudden lump in his throat, but it didn't work. "Since I haven't got anyone to spare for your house arrest, of course."

The words _outstanding record for failing his missions_ kept repeating in his head. He found himself asking, "What's his track record?" with a feeling of dread welling up in him.

Iruka said with the air of a proud father, "Thirteen!"

"Failures?" Sasuke begged for it to be so.

"Successes," Tsunade replied. Then she added almost as an afterthought, "He's got thirty-four failures, and he's been off of missions for two and a half years." Sasuke wanted to sink into the ground. 'Just let it swallow me whole,' he begged of any deity that would listen. Unfortunately, they all seemed to be on vacation. He could only begin to guess why Naruto wasn't on missions for two and a half years. He wondered if being a regular civilian would be as hard as she made it seem. All he'd ever known was how to be a shinobi.

"Are there any other contingencies I should know of?" Sasuke asked, finding his voice practically breaking in misery.

"Naruto is back on missions now, so Iruka has agreed to keep an eye on you when Naruto is out of town." Tsunade told him.

"You…" Sasuke gulped, "You're going to have Naruto multi-task missions?"

"Of course," Tsunade said, suddenly cheerful. "And if you screw up while he's gone, I'll simply have to put you in jail for the rest of your punishment. So, Iruka will show you to where Naruto lives. I'm sure you'll want to get yourself acquainted with your new living quarters. Since I doubt you have any money, Iruka has also agreed to loan you three hundred, which you will pay back before the end of the year, so you can purchase anything you might need like clothes or food if Naruto hasn't stocked up on anything except ramen. Good luck, Sasuke-kun!"

'I'm doomed,' Sasuke thought. Now that he had a partial freedom dangling over his head, just out of reach, he found he wanted to live and he wanted to stay out of jail.

As he was being led out by Iruka, too stunned to really pay much attention, he did hear Tsunade's final delighted warning, "Oh, and remember you're a civilian now, so any fighting or weapon carrying will get you sent to jail! Have a great day!" He was shaking. Somehow, his nerves were fraying, and very quickly.

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**Due to my own personal impatience after getting a few excellent reviews, I decided I didn't feel like waiting to update. Thanks for the reviews everybody! **supersillee06 (honestly, I'm near tears laughing at your outrage!), Ashuri Nikouru, Canis Black (-whisper- I don't know how that happened between Sasuke and Naruto, honestly! It just...did... I didn't plan for it, but I will work with it. I do have great plans for Itachi. If all goes well, he'll show up in a few chapters!), inukag-Spellcaster (as I said, guess away! I won't tell you if you're right, but you can guess!), SandK (well, thank you!), Skitzoflame (I keep reading your name "Skitz of lame"...so what is it?), and to everyone else who read/reviewed this chapter after I posted sixteen. As I said, I got impatient. 

ANSWER: -dies laughing- No one ever finds my pairing spoilers! I've had two so far! (¬.¬) Maybe I should put eggs by them and we can have a late egg hunt? This chapter is dedicated to Canis Black's mega awesome review! I wish everyone left such inquisitive reviews!

_Please leave me a review! Really good reviews make me want to update quicker. So, in light of this information, click the blue-purple button at the bottom of the screen with your cursor. My cursor is a hand with a pen in it!_


	17. Frustrated Shino

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter seventeen: Frustrated Shino

Kagome stood slowly, her eyes stuck on the one who had dragged her out of the hot spring by her hair. Her hands clenched around the bone comb and the kunai; she wondered what madness had gripped her to decide to come to the shack. It was true: someone had to deal with the remaining seven shinobi, but she had come not even sure what her plan of action truly was.

So why, then, was she there? She was sure that with a little reasoning, the shinobi would realize their wrong-doing, and apologize to the community. But now she stood with six dead shinobi at her feet and one with blood on his hands looking at her with the glow of a maniac in his eyes.

She would never really remember how the next events took place; she wasn't given the time to think about her actions, but she acted instinctively for survival. The kunai was sharp, the shinobi came at her, and then the shinobi was backing away from her. The sharp kunai was in his gut, embedded deeply.

He had a look of disbelief on his face. "How?" he asked her. "I didn't…see you…move." He collapsed to his knees, his eyes still questioning her. He pulled the kunai out and let it fall slowly from his hands. The dirt floor of the shack dulled the noise it made. Then he reached for his collar, weakly pulling his shirt over his head.

She was shocked by what she saw. Blood was pouring from not just the dagger wound, but from a gaping hole in his chest—almost like someone very strong had taken their fist and simply thrust it straight through the man's chest.

And then the man fell the rest of the way forward and his eyes glazed over. She was only able to shake herself out of her stupor when she heard her name and felt a light tapping on her cheek. Kakashi was in front of her and he looked frustrated by the way his black eye was narrowed dangerously.

"What the hell were you doing?" Kakashi demanded. "You'll get yourself killed!"

She flung herself at Kakashi, her arms wrapping around his torso. She buried her face in his chest and her body shook with uncontrollable sobs. She'd never killed before. She'd been declared as hopeless by most of her clan when it came to fighting. Whenever the Sound-nin came to attack, Kagome was never among those members of the Yobidasu who would go out to meet the enemy forces and fight.

She was always protected.

Kakashi was startled when Kagome suddenly threw herself at him and started crying. He wasn't sure what had started the outburst until he noticed the bloody kunai lying on the floor. He wrapped his arms around the young girl, angry with himself for not being faster. His hand left a bloody trail on her long black hair.

He should have been faster…

xXx

Even the lazy Shikamaru was getting frustrated, and that seemed to spell out how bad the situation was, really. If Shikamaru was frustrated, then Neiji was murderous and Shino (being the one with the death threat over his head) was about to lay eggs.

Fuyumi smirked at the three boys behind their backs; she was their problem. She was the current bane to their existence. She was dressed now, but not much more than she had been before. Her shirt was green like her hair and her shorts were dark blue, but the amount of fabric to her outfit seemed like it could be redone to be the equivalent of one of Shikamaru's _sleeves_, if that much. But since they had dared to wake her up before her normal waking time, she was causing them hell.

She knew what she could and could not get away with. And she definitely could get away with purposefully slowing them down, which she was doing with great pleasure. They would have left her behind, except the delightful little fact that it was by the Hokage's orders that Fuyumi remained with them.

So they were stuck walking what felt like two paces an hour…

Shino was going to kill Fuyumi—gladly—when the mission was over. And then, he would let her be eaten by _bugs_.

Of course, by the time they managed to trace Kakashi's trail and ended up most irritatingly back at the same damn village Shino had left early that morning (kill…Fuyumi…), they were met with the unpleasant surprise of Shizune and her medic-nin team, and Kiba and Hinata preparing to leave.

"Where is Kakashi?" Shino demanded in a voice cold enough to freeze hell over. Even Neiji flinched at that tone.

Hinata poked her fingers together nervously, "He… he left t-two hours ago, S-Shino-kun."

Shino felt like he would go insane at any moment and simply unleash a plague of chakra eating bugs upon the whole village. It would make him feel better.

Fuyumi giggled, "Aw, poor Shino-kun! This must really be frustrating for you, hm? Maybe if we had walked a _wee bit faster_ then you could have caught him before he took off!"

Shikamaru's jaw dropped, Neiji grit his teeth together, and Shino whirled on Fuyumi, jabbing her shoulder with two fingers (kill… Fuyumi… soon…). "Don't you fucking tell me about moving faster, you stupid bitch!" he snarled. "You're the one who fucking lagged behind every time I tried to pick up the pace!"

Fuyumi pushed his hand away from her. "Ew!" she said, "Who knows where that hand has been. Don't touch me with it."

Shizune said, "Shino-kun, its okay. Kakashi left word that you can drop the message off in his mail box and he'll get it when he returns to Konoha. He said he'll be back in two or three weeks, but he knows it's nothing that can't wait until then."

Shino's beady eyes blazed with severe dislike, and for the first time in his life, he took off without regard to his orders. He walked away muttering things about 'Stupid bitches' and 'Crazy night birds', so the others guessed quite accurately to leave him alone.

* * *

**I'm kind of sad that "Kagome and Sesshoumaru starring in" isn't my third most popular story anymore. Thanks for the reviews everybody! **supersillee06 (It's funny. Admit it, you want to laugh!), IncandescentOne, DeathNoteMaker (I can't tell you that, because then you'd know and where's the fun in that?), KuroxTenshi, S.T.Nikolian (-cough-notheydon't-cough- ehehe...). And as usual, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 16 after I posted chapter 17.

ANSWER: Does anyone mind if the next chapter skips ahead 3 weeks? Good, 'cause it does.

_Thanks for all the reviews. Due to this story's popularity and the fact that lots of people reviewed, I'm updating again._


	18. Bad Fight

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

* * *

Chapter eighteen: Bad Fight

The summer evening chill had crept over the city as Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura finally approached the gates to Konohagakure three weeks after they'd first been given their mission to escort the Summoner Higurashi, Kagome home.

It had been a rather pleasant mission after the initial issue dealing with the Earth-nin who had kidnapped Kagome and several women and girls from a nearby village. They had ridden out of the village on the backs of Avei and Kotor, though it had been a strange (and somehow incredible) experience.

To distribute their weight between both dogs as evenly as possible, Kagome (the lightest) had ridden with Kakashi (the heaviest) on Avei's back, and Naruto and Sakura had ridden on Kotor's back. Naruto had felt extreme exhilaration riding on Kotor's back, feeling the powerful dog move beneath him. Sakura had been terrified and clung to him.

Kagome had said their journey on the backs of Avei and Kotor would take two or three days depending on how fast Avei and Kotor decided to travel. To Sakura's relief, the dogs had paced the journey, and each night they set up camp, Sakura still had to go off into the bushes and heave her lunch up.

Kagome cooked for them on their journey, and Naruto got to learn a little bit about his teacher that he had never known. Though he still never saw Kakashi take the mask off—Kakashi seemed to leave it on simply to irritate Kagome—he learned that Kakashi had a peculiar fondness for spicy foods, and so did Kagome.

It was strange too, watching Kakashi and Kagome together. They bantered back and forth and strangely enough, Kakashi didn't always win the argument. Every time Naruto was around Kagome, he felt a strange sort of attachment to her that he simply couldn't explain. It wasn't like his crush on Sakura, but was more of a strange connection he felt toward her, almost as though he recognized her.

It was a good feeling, though, so he didn't really examine it too deeply. He did realize that he'd never seen Kakashi eat over the past three weeks and wondered when and where the older man ate. That was another thing he didn't bother to examine very much.

Kagome's cooking, he had learned early on into their journey, was incredible. She seemed to know the _perfect_ amount of spices to put into the food, almost instinctively. Sakura had explained to Naruto that Kagome was able to gauge their taste buds' sensitivity by asking a series of questions, and therefore could cook the food to everyone's satisfaction.

After three days riding on Avei and Kotor's backs, they had arrived at the base of a mountain path. From there, Kagome had said, she would proceed alone. She had thanked them for the escort, gave Kakashi a big hug and a kiss on the cheek (which surprised both Naruto and Sakura into dropped jaws), and then proceeded up the mountain path with Avei and Kotor following her.

Naruto could honestly say he felt very angry when she'd disappeared from sight. It had slipped his mind to ask about being trained to use koumajutsu until she was gone, and Kakashi had forbid him from going after her. He still wondered if Kakashi simply said that as a precaution, or if he actually knew Naruto wanted to go after Kagome.

Their return journey took them two and a half weeks since they were on foot then, but Sakura had confided to the two other shinobi that she would prefer walking. The obvious amusement in Kakashi's black eye told Naruto that Kakashi had liked their previous form of travel as much as Naruto had.

Now, the three had arrived back at Konohagakure. It was considerably late at night when they arrived, so the main gates weren't open yet, but there was a smaller gate they could use. It took more time to use that gate than the main gate, mostly because anyone who came in during night hours had to be verified as a Konohagakure citizen before they could actually enter the city.

It was a rather screwed up system in Naruto's mind, because anyone who actually _used_ the gate would obviously be clean, and anyone who _really_ wanted to sneak in would either do it during the day when the main gates were open—since there was no extended verification process then—or else they would just go over the giant walls surrounding the city.

Still, being so close to their own homes, none of them wanted to set up the tents for another night, so they chose to sit through the two hour verification process, during which Sakura had fallen asleep. It had been a long journey, even if most of it wasn't exactly straining. However, half of it had been spent in Sound Country, which was decidedly unfriendly territory so they had to push hard so during that time they didn't get much sleep.

Then, when they did get back into their home country, Sakura's nightmares kept the two men from getting much sleep. That was the first time Naruto found out about Sakura's nightmares. She'd been having them ever since Sasuke came back, and though her description of them—spoken in confidence to Kakashi and Naruto—wasn't all that scary, it was apparent she was very disturbed by them.

Then again, Naruto could understand where she was coming from to be afraid of her dreams. He was somewhat scared that when Sasuke did receive judgment from Tsunade, Sasuke would decide it wasn't worth his trouble and take off again.

After the verification process was finished, Naruto had approached where Sakura sat on a row of uncomfortable chairs against the wall. The way her nose scrunched up and her arms were wrapped around herself as though trying to protect herself from bad things, he knew it was another bad dream.

He rested a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. Honestly, he wished he could have curled up too, he was so tired, but he simply pulled himself together and told himself he could wait until he reached his comfortable orange comforter and the tiny bed his apartment housed.

"Sakura-chan," he said softly, shaking her again when she only seemed to retreat further into herself and the nightmare. He tried waking her by saying her name two more times, but neither time worked.

Instead, Kakashi stepped up to Naruto and said, "I'll carry her home, Naruto. Go home and get some rest. Tomorrow, we'll meet up at the bridge and go together to find out what Tsunade-sama decided to do with Sasuke."

Naruto found himself shaking his head, and wondered why he would disagree with Kakashi's proposed plan of action. He was exhausted; surely the best idea would be to get home and go to bed? "I can take her home, Kakashi-sensei," he told his teacher. Kakashi looked like he was going to argue for a moment but then his teacher chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"You amuse me," his teacher said. "Remember to meet me at the bridge tomorrow morning. We'll meet at nine." And then in the usual flare of a puff of smoke, Kakashi was gone.

Naruto carefully managed to position Sakura piggy-back and left for her parent's house. He was surprised how having her so close to him didn't make his breath clench in his throat, or his heart race, and that made him curious. But he didn't award his sleepy mind the time to ponder that, figuring it to be exhaustion getting in the way of his crush.

He found when he reached Sakura's house that he'd made a terrible miscalculation. His hands were braced beneath Sakura's thighs and bottom, keeping her successfully steady on his back but it made knocking a little harder. However, he wasn't one to be deterred by such trivial things. He knocked with his foot instead (and almost knocked the two of them off-balance).

Sakura's mother answered the door and instantly her lips tightened in a thin line. "Uzumaki, Naruto," she snapped, seeing her daughter in a bit of a ragged state on Naruto's back certainly not being something that pleased her very well. Naruto sighed, knowing he would never change everyone.

He interrupted her to stave off her irritation at least a little bit. "Haruno-sama," he said, adding the extra formality in the hope that she might cool off a little, "we just got back from a real tiring mission and she fell asleep. Is there somewhere I can set her? She wouldn't wake up when we tried."

Wordlessly, Sakura's mother led Naruto inside and up a staircase. She opened a door and flipped on a light switch. "Here," she said, waving to the interior of the room. Naruto hesitated a little bit about going in; he'd never been in Sakura's room before. He'd been in Tsunade's room a few times at night when he'd been playing pranks on the old woman, so it wasn't like he'd never been in a _girl_'s room before. But this was Sakura's room—his violent, scary friend-who-was-a-girl.

Sakura's mother watched Naruto with the eyes of a hawk, almost as though waiting for him to make a single mistake. He practically tip-toed into the room and sat on the bed, allowing Sakura to slide away from him. She never woke up, but once her head hit her pillow, she cringed and sobbed, "Naruto…save Sasuke-kun…please… bring him home…"

Naruto stepped out into the hall, before her broken sobs sent him into a blood rage that could only be directed at Sasuke. 'He did this to her!' his mind ranted. He really couldn't imagine what he would do to Sasuke if and when he met the other boy. Sasuke had caused people so much pain and suffering, and he didn't seem to even _care_, or he hadn't seemed to when Naruto saw him briefly a few weeks earlier.

Seeing Sakura's vulnerability had definitely given him much to think about. Things such as _not wanting to forgive Sasuke_. Ever. He simply couldn't imagine forgiving the 'child prodigy'. Certainly one such as Sasuke would be _smart_ enough to know how damaging his actions could be in the future! He had to know!

Finally, Sakura's mom grabbed Naruto's chin and turned his face to her. He was surprised when he saw that her hard look had softened slightly. "You're a good boy, Uzumaki. I know you are, which is why you won't fail to bring home the one who hurt my baby, will you?"

Naruto was even more startled, though this time it was from her words. "Sasuke… is home, I thought." His heart plummeted into his gut. 'Please, please don't tell me he took off again,' he thought, but he was too tired to start panicking.

Sakura's mom pursed her lips and lightly tapped Naruto's cheek. "The boy is _here_, but he isn't _home_." She said cryptically. "Bring him home to us, and help Sakura-chan find her closure."

Naruto didn't understand her at all, but he was ushered out of the house too fast to question her meaning. Instead he sighed and made his way across town to the cheaper side where he lived. If he didn't have as many problems as he did at that time, he might have reminisced about how that night would have been perfect for a prank: no moon showed in the sky, and the night sky was clouded.

He sighed and wished there was an easy solution, but knew that was entirely out of the question. On the one hand, he hated Sasuke for what the other boy had done to him, to those who loved him—like Sakura, and most importantly, to Konoha. But on the other hand, the hopeful side of Naruto that wanted to believe there was still good in Sasuke wanted to forgive his old friend.

Why couldn't he? Why did he have to keep being upset? Why couldn't he just stop?

He paused in front of his apartment door, his keys half out of his pocket. 'And then what?' he asked himself. 'If I forgive Sasuke, then what? Will I allow myself to be hurt again? Will I allow myself to be betrayed again? No, it's not entirely about Konoha, but me too. Will I _allow_ Sasuke to continue dragging me along on his path of self-destruction?'

By the time his thoughts had finally made themselves known, he had stuck the key into the lock and turned it. Sighing wearily and rubbing the back of his neck, Naruto moved into the darkened interior of the apartment, tossing his shoes by the door. He closed and locked the door again stripping down to his orange boxer-shorts even as he made his way to the bathroom.

Once he'd relieved himself, he managed a quick shower without falling asleep, but once he got out he barely had the energy to pull on his dirty boxers again. He stumbled his way to his bed and fell on it, curling around his pillow. His mind warned him that his 'pillow' was harder than usual—_much_ harder—but he ignored it to favor sleep.

Sasuke had woken up immediately when Naruto entered the apartment. He had wondered if he ought to get up out of Naruto's bed and had debated on doing just that. In fact, he had been _getting up_ at the very minute that Naruto had been leaving the bathroom, but his body had frozen. It was only a minute, but by the time he was able to move again, Naruto was using his thigh as a pillow.

Irritation swept over him and he tried to pry the incredibly heavy sleeper from his leg, but to no avail. The harder he bent Naruto's fingers away from his leg, the tighter Naruto wrapped his arms around him. It was an extremely uncomfortable position, especially since the more Naruto moved, the closer he seemed to get to being in a rather compromising place.

Sasuke had to grit his teeth when he heard Naruto say quietly, "Kakashi-sensei…my pillow won't stay still…" He wanted so bad to whack Naruto upside the head for not letting him go, but if Naruto _did_ wake and they got into a fight, Sasuke would go to jail.

Technically it was his own fault; he should have gotten up right when he first thought about it instead of waiting a good fifteen minutes to do so. That also brought to mind the question of why he even bothered sleeping in Naruto's bed to begin with. He hadn't actually questioned it the previous two weeks, even though Iruka had immediately provided Sasuke with a spare futon roll to lay out beside the bed.

He supposed it had been because sleeping in Naruto's bed had somehow eased his fears of what was still to come: his next confrontation with Naruto. Knowing that Naruto essentially held his life in his hands _really_ scared Sasuke.

And now, another thing Naruto held in his hands was Sasuke's leg. If the boy held any tighter, he would cut off all the circulation to Sasuke's leg and kill his limb. And while that would be a rather interesting thing to watch, Sasuke was _sure_, he also felt rather attached to his limbs—literally—and wouldn't be entirely satisfied unless they remained alive.

So, Sasuke closed his normal eyes and opened the Sharingan eyes, turning them on Naruto. He leaned as close to Naruto's ear as he could manage before whispering the suggestion, "Repeat after me, Naruto: I am not hugging my pillow."

Naruto sleepily repeated the words, "After you, Naruto…" he said. Then he continued, "Why aren't you hugging your pillow?"

'What the hell?' Sasuke thought. He tried again, putting more force behind the Sharingan. "Repeat after me: I am not hugging my pillow. I am letting my pillow go."

"No, no," Naruto said, hugging Sasuke's leg even tighter. "Don't let the pillow go… What will you sleep on then?"

Incredibly frustrated, Sasuke stood to try shaking the other boy from his leg. Unfortunately that didn't work as well as planned since his leg had fallen asleep and instead, he and Naruto went tumbling to the floor in a mess of limbs. Sasuke half-managed to save himself, and though he wasn't entirely sure how it happened, he ended up straddling his once-best-friend's lap.

Sasuke literally growled when he found his friend was no longer hugging his leg, but now was leeching to his torso. He put as much force behind the Sharingan as he could and directed it at Naruto. "You want to let me go!" he snarled.

He wasn't awarded with any action or sleepy sentences that time. Naruto simply didn't let go, and the boy was incredibly _strong_. Sasuke couldn't feel the pain, but by the way that he could hear his ribs groaning, he knew he would be bruised in the morning.

So, without taking any aggressive actions that could potentially end in a wall-breaking fight (that would inevitably send him to jail), all he could do was slump over his old friend and yet attempt to keep them as _not-touching_ as he could.

It was considerably difficult to do minding the fact that he was _straddling_ Naruto's waist and the boy was hugging his chest. His patience started to wane the longer he had to sit there. Naruto wasn't one to toss and turn at night; he could stay in one position for hours.

Sasuke used to be the same. He could remember the days he used to sleep in the very apartment he was in at that moment. No one ever really knew about their continued relationship before the Uchiha Massacre due to the fact that the boys couldn't risk being found out or they would be whipped.

After they were put together in Team 7, the two of them simply had made no effort to tell everyone that their relationship didn't only rely on their rivalry. Even if they had told people, who would believe they could possibly be friends with the amount they fought, and with the intensity with which each blow was delivered?

But the three years Sasuke spent with Orochimaru changed him. He needed space to breathe. Orochimaru had pumped his body full of drugs by day—to prepare his curse seal, he had said—and by night, he had been suffering and the room would spin. He would feel claustrophobic and choked.

It took all his will not to wrap his long, slender fingers around Naruto's neck, because he almost started seeing Orochimaru instead. 'Kill him…' he heard a dangerous voice whisper in his mind, but he fought against that voice. 'Kill him…obey me…feel the blood run through your fingers… or be _second_ to Itachi your whole life…'

Finally the morning came and pre-dawn light poked its nose in through the dusty old curtains in Naruto's apartment. It was a good thing morning came, because the change in the amount of light helped Sasuke see who was really beneath him. His struggle to get away from the death-grip Naruto had on him simply ceased as finally Naruto's eyes fluttered open.

And _then_, Naruto woke fully and his face flushed with fury. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HUGGING ME!" he yelled at the very top of his lungs.

Sasuke simply could _not_ hold back any longer. He gathered his chakra—and all his outrage—into his fist and punched the boy hard in the face. He actually couldn't recall a time when he'd been so angry.

Sasuke's response to Naruto's outburst had the satisfying result of a bone-crushing (building breaking) battle between the two.

xXx

Tsunade was not pleased in the slightest. She sat at her desk, regarding the four people in front of her with a frown on her face and anger in her eyes. She herself wanted to destroy an entire apartment complex from time to time, but at least she refrained from doing so!

Her analysis of the people before went as follows:

Naruto, the agitator.

Sasuke, the instigator.

Sakura, the mediator.

Kakashi, the one who stood back and read romance novels while two of his students destroyed half a city block and created unnecessary expenses that Tsunade would later have to try to explain to the council of elders!

"DAMN IT!" she yelled finally, not sure whether to be angrier at Naruto, Kakashi, or Sasuke. Sakura always tried to reason with the two boys to keep them from fighting, so she was off the hook from the trouble, though she still would be forced to listen to the severe scolding that Tsunade wanted to give the others.

Most irritatingly, Kakashi pulled out a familiar little orange book and began reading. Meanwhile, Naruto was wincing as Shizune took it upon herself to begin bandaging the boy's injuries. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto were severely injured. They had some pretty nasty scrapes and grapefruit sized bruises littering their bodies.

A lot of the bruises were easy to see, especially due to the fact that Naruto was only wearing orange boxers and Sasuke was wearing a white, bloodied and torn tee-shirt and blue boxers. The 'x' shaped scars on Sasuke's legs and arms were visible because of his lack of clothing.

Tsunade practically threw herself across the room, snatching the book from Kakashi. She was so damn sick of seeing him with pervert books that she was nearly ready to put a permanent ban on their existence in Konohagakure. Tsunade used her incredible strength to tear the book literally to shreds and tossed the remains out of the open window.

"CIVILIAN!" Tsunade shouted, pointing at Sasuke. "NO FIGHTING, NO WEAPONS, NO CHAKRA, NO SHARINGAN EYES, NO VIOLENCE!" She turned to Naruto, still nowhere near a state of coherence. "THE RASENGAN IS NOT A WRECKING BALL, YOU ARE NOT A CONSTRUCTION WORKER, YOU ARE AN EXPERIENCED SHINOBI!" She turned that accusing finger on Kakashi. "YOU ARE A SHINOBI, NOT A CIVILIAN, GET YOUR NOSE OUT OF THE PERVERT BOOKS AND START TEACHING YOUR DAMN STUDENTS PROPER PUBLIC BEHAVIOR!" She was huffing at the end of her speech.

Kakashi reached in his nin-kit and pulled a familiar green book out. "They never left Naruto's apartment, and therefore the argument was private." He seemed to be highly amused.

Well, Tsunade would give him something to be amused about. "Shizune!" she said. "What was the total cost of punitive and compensatory damages to B-District?"

Shizune immediately said, "One hundred twenty six thousand dollars is what we have for an estimate, but we won't really know an exact total until the end of the week. It could be several thousand more or less."

"You see how private that one argument was?" Tsunade said, her fingers itching to tear up the other book as well. However, that one looked like the one Naruto gave to Kakashi, and while she didn't mind if Kakashi was annoyed with her, she knew Naruto would likely not forgive her if she tore up that one. Damn Kakashi probably knew that too. "And, besides that, we have eight displaced families due to the destruction you two boys have caused! What do you have to say for yourself?" She demanded.

Naruto was the first to speak and he did so in a very loud voice as was usual. "That jerk was hugging me when I woke up!"

Anger flashed through Sasuke's eyes, even as everyone stared at him in complete shock. "_I_ was hugging _you_?" he demanded, pulling his tee-shirt off, revealing his finely chiseled and incredibly scarred torso. 'X' shaped scars both large and small littered his flesh, forcing Sakura to gasp. Ringing Sasuke's chest was a strange black-and-blue bruise, among the other bruises that were there. "How about you latched onto me like a fucking fan-girl?!"

Naruto seemed unable to keep himself back. He charged at his old friend, "Sasuke, you bastard!" he yelled, but Sasuke easily dodged and smashed his friend's face down onto Tsunade's desk with enough force to split the desk down the middle. As the desk buckled, the papers slid off.

If there was one thing that could be said for Naruto, it was his quick recovery rate. He stumbled back, but before the ANBU who brought the two boys, or Kakashi, or Tsunade or Shizune could stop him he was charging at Sasuke again. Sasuke had no reservations defending himself from the onslaught, despite it likely led to jail.

"Why were you in my **house**!" Naruto screamed as his fist was caught by Sasuke and turned up behind him. He groaned when he felt the stretching pain of his arm being twisted.

"BOYS!" Tsunade yelled, trying to regain order in her office. But then Naruto's blue eyes flashed red just briefly and he shoved backward with his legs, slamming Sasuke's back into the wall. The plaster cracked, and Sasuke released Naruto, but not without hooking his leg around Naruto's ankle. Sasuke assisted Naruto's fall and then brought a forceful blow toward Naruto's face.

Tsunade was _pissed_ when that fist missed Naruto's face and instead left a hole in the floor. Thankfully the four ANBU had managed to separate the two boys. With no more reservations, Tsunade walked up to Naruto and slapped him with an open palm.

He looked incredulously at her; he'd been punched many times before, but no one had ever _slapped_ him. "What?" he asked.

She snarled, "_If_ you were Hokage, what would you do with Sasuke, Naruto!" Naruto wasn't comprehending, and it appeared everything was too much for Sakura. She turned away, trying to hide her tears. Kakashi had finally put his book away, and Sasuke watched with interest, not struggling against the ANBU's grasp like Naruto was.

"What?" Naruto asked again.

"I asked you what you would have done if you were me, didn't I? What was your answer?" Tsunade demanded. She was incredibly angry, because now she would have even more expenses to explain to the council of elders. A broken desk, a damaged wall, and a massive hole in the floor… When would Naruto be old enough to take over, anyway?

"Uh," Naruto said, calming a little bit to think. "I said I'd give 'em lots of annoying jobs…"

Sasuke scowled. "So you're the fucking reason I've got this tracking bug, aren't you?!" he demanded of Naruto, but of course the other boy had no idea what Sasuke was talking about. However, Tsunade didn't enjoy being interrupted, and so she whirled on her feet and walked over to the Uchiha orphan, slapping him in the same manner she'd slapped Naruto. It wasn't hard, but it was more shocking to actually be slapped—Tsunade knew from experience—that it became more effective than an actual punch especially with someone who couldn't feel pain.

"Shut up, Uchiha!" Tsunade ordered. She turned back to Naruto. "The _other_ thing you said, Naruto!" She tapped her foot impatiently. "About the ANBU guards."

Naruto's struggles ceased to exist as he realized what Tsunade was getting at. "You did it, Granny," he said, his voice cracking a little. Now, Kakashi was interested. Naruto met Sasuke's eyes and Tsunade was surprised to see a tear slip out of eyes of the Kyuubi-host.

"Yes, I did," Tsunade snapped. "And as thanks, you put Konoha one hundred fifty thousand dollars under! What have you to say for yourself?!"

Naruto took a deep breath, surprising everyone with his next answer. "I… I have no excuse."

It was a moment before Tsunade managed to regain her bearings after that response—something she'd never have expected from Naruto in a million years. But regain her bearings she did. "Naruto, you will complete three-hundred hours community service for the destruction you and Sasuke caused. On top of that, it is your mission to teach Sasuke to be a civilian."

"But," Naruto started, "I've never gotten more than one hundred fifty hours! Three hundred will kill me! When will I train?"

"You _said_ you would take _full responsibility_ for Sasuke, therefore whatever mistakes he makes, are your mistakes." Naruto opened his mouth to protest and Tsunade said, "No, Naruto. This is fair. If you cannot accept responsibility for one charge, then what makes you think you could accept responsibility for what everyone in the village does? That's my job—the job you want so bad. I am held accountable for your actions, for Sakura's actions, even the perverted Jiraiya when he pokes his nose in the baths—I am to blame. You want this, you get _all_ of this. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded, but Tsunade wasn't quite finished yet. Tsunade laid the final brick down, still pretty angry. "If you cannot succeed at turning Sasuke into an ordinary citizen, he will be put in jail, and you, Naruto, will have your shinobi status revoked and be sent back to the academy."

The ANBU lost their grip on Naruto when he fell suddenly to his knees. He looked terrified. Sakura tried not to let all that she'd heard get to her, but she couldn't take any more. She yelled at Tsunade, "Can't you see you're tearing us apart?!" before running off, crying because of the suffering Naruto and Sasuke would likely go through.

Tsunade ignored the outburst, staring down at Naruto. Naruto said, "I… I can't be sent back… I can't do it again… I barely made it the first time… I wouldn't have the money for tuition…" Everyone knew what happened to shinobi who were sent back to the academy but didn't have money for tuition. They were sent to jail, because once a person was a shinobi, they couldn't stop being one and be a free man.

"I know," Tsunade said, dropping stone upon stone in Naruto's sanity pool, watching the ripples break the smooth surface. She was testing him. She was testing all of them. It was a very necessary risk she had to take. If Kakashi was right and Sasuke would be loyal to Naruto, and if he wasn't lying about being loyal to Naruto, then testing Naruto's loyalty to Konoha would be crucial.

She felt like a bad person for doing it, but she was the only one who could.

Naruto tried to collect himself together, to regain his usual happy-go-lucky composure, but it was very difficult. Finally, he settled on a thought that helped him to stand and face down the figurative demons that wanted to defeat him. 'These missions will not beat me,' he thought, determination shining in his moist eyes. "Fine!" he said loudly, his voice breaking the sudden tension in the room. "I won't fail, and it won't even take me _three_ years to do it! I'll do it in," Naruto was interrupted by Tsunade.

"By the way, Naruto, you are still obligated to your duties with Team Kakashi," Tsunade told him. Naruto's jaw dropped wide open and he wisely decided to retract his statement.

Naruto sighed. "Three years, then," he agreed.

Tsunade looked at Sasuke with narrowed eyes. She knew they were still both just children, but if she didn't start laying the rules down now, being strict and stern with these two who had no parents, then she was sure all would be lost for them. They needed that stern figure in their lives, since Kakashi wasn't going to be it, and Iruka was too happy with Naruto's achievements lately to be strict with his faults.

"And you," Tsunade told him, "this is your last warning. No more fighting, no using chakra, and no using the Sharingan. Am I understood?"

Sasuke's cold resolve seemed to fade somewhat and he hung his head, a slight blush on his face. "Yes, ma'am," he said. She hoped what she heard in his voice was respect, not disdain, but it was always hard to tell with him.

Naruto turned toward the door. "Come on, jerk." Sasuke was released and he grabbed his shirt up, pulling it back on. After leaving Hokage tower, they chose to go back to Naruto's broken apartment complex by way of the roofs, since running around the city in their underwear would be rather embarrassing.

Naruto refused to talk to Sasuke, and Sasuke simply didn't know what to say—apart from the fact that him talking was completely uncharacteristic in the first place.

xXx

After the two boys had gone, Tsunade rounded on Kakashi. "And you," she growled lowly, "will pay the combined damages your boys caused."

She was completely startled to see his eye crinkle with mirth. "Done." She had expected an argument or something, not just complete agreement. She wondered if he really had that much or if he was bluffing. "But in return, I need a favor." He didn't waste time waiting for her to ask what it was, but instead went right into his explanation.

"I got this delightful little letter in my mailbox last night." He showed her a scroll which she took, recognizing the broken seal to be the same that the scroll Shino had was sealed with. Her eyes glanced at the very few words written on the scroll.

**"This Sesshoumaru desires for change. Speak with Fire and propose my intentions."** It somehow seemed entirely pretentious, and yet somehow it seemed to say nothing at all. Even if Shino were to open the letter and look at it, Tsunade doubted he would have understood it—_she_ couldn't understand it. Could Kakashi?

Tsunade quickly looked at the ANBU in the room. "Leave us," she told them. They did as instructed. "No one enters here," she called after them. Then the door was shut and Tsunade looked at Kakashi, allowing the confusion to show on her face. "What does this mean?"

She felt childish for having to ask, but Kakashi complied with her wishes and responded cheerfully, "The Yobidasu and the Sound-nin have been at war since the Sound first showed. But now there aren't enough Yobidasu clansmen to fill a tea-cup, much less go to war. They seek shelter and an alliance with Konohagakure."

"When you say 'to fill a tea-cup'," Shizune started, "what do you mean?"

Kakashi still remained characteristically cheerful, "I mean 'Kagome and Sango and five dead people.'" Kakashi chuckled at their shocked expressions. "I'm only going to explain this once," he said. "Just as there are forbidden jutsus to us, certain levels of koumajutsu is forbidden, because it takes a living human and turns them into a Summon Creature. Essentially those humans are dead."

Tsunade frowned. "After the Kyuubi incident, I'm not sure the council of elders will allow it. A decision like this could never be just mine alone, although if it were, I'd say yes. Give me some time to speak to the council of elders."

Kakashi chuckled. "Just ask the council if they'd like to ally with a powerful clan seeking refuge. That's what the Second did when the Uchiha clan came."

Tsunade and Shizune winced. "And we know where that led…" Tsunade muttered darkly. "I better not regret this, Kakashi, or I'm going to take you down with me."

Kakashi blinked innocently, "Then I'll send word to Kagome," he said and—as all weirdoes seemed prone to do—climbed out the window. It was a good thing they lived in a village of weirdoes, since that way his abnormal behavior seemed normal.

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews everybody! **S.T. Nikolian (looks like things are going to be interesting indeed), SandK, KuroxTenshi, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (you're back! you disappeared for a while there...), Kagome Lady of Darkness, supersillee06 (are there 5 other supersillee's?), Hiei's Cute Girl (sorry again for missing your review response). And as usual, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 17 after I posted chapter 18. 

ANSWER: Sorry, Canis Black, but I couldn't resist doing that "little scene" for you... I think you know which one... Honestly, if I don't stop laughing, I'm going to pass out from lack of oxygen.

_Just to annoy you, I'm going to give you a hint at a pairing... Sasuke will be paired with BLEEP. Wahahaha! Please review, and feel free to rave!_


	19. Job Hunt

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter nineteen: Job Hunt

Kakashi wasn't exactly happy. As he left Hokage tower and headed for his apartment, he thought about the letter and his best method of going about his 'Kagome Retrieval Mission' without anyone knowing he left.

Of course, there was no doubt if he asked to leave the village to get Kagome himself, he would be turned down. Why? Because Kagome's coming hadn't actually been approved by the Council of Elders yet and it would take a few weeks at least to get the approval.

Plus, if he simply left the village with no approval, and no word to where he was going, he would be considered a missing-nin and would then have to go on probation much like Sasuke was currently on. Kakashi really didn't fancy three years probation; it would completely cramp his style.

So, he thought over his options carefully. There was a sense of urgency in the air around him because he knew what the scroll really said, even though he hadn't admitted the truth of it to Tsunade. He'd known it would happen sooner or later, but hadn't expected it to be so soon.

Kagome was being evicted from the property her family had occupied for well over a century. He didn't have the details yet, but when he got there he would know more. What he figured was most likely would be that the Sound-nin had offered the villagers under the protection of the Yobidasu a 'sounder' deal than she could offer as far as protection came.

But he also didn't want to jump to conclusions until he knew more. So, he was forced to simply plan a way to leave Konohagakure, and yet _not_ be gone at the same time. Then it came to him: he could have someone impersonate him.

But who? Iruka was pretty good at impersonations, but he would be noticeable. No, Kakashi had to choose someone who wasn't in Konohagakure at that time, or wouldn't be for a while.

He chuckled when he remembered someone who owed him a favor—that someone being a person who was not in Konohagakure and was an expert at impersonations when he wanted to be…

He summoned Pakkun on his kitchen table, smiling at the dog. "Uh, oh," Pakkun said. "I don't like that face."

"I wear it every day, so you should be used to it," Kakashi told the dog. 'I think he's making fun of my mask,' Kakashi thought. "I have a message for you to deliver."

xXx

"Remember: Sasuke is back in the village. He _will_ recognize you, and he's not ready for that yet, so if there's even a slight chance he'll see you, disappear. I doubt anyone else will recognize you in my guise, so Sasuke is the only one you'll have to worry about. Meet with Sakura and Naruto in the morning—I usually meet them about eleven AM—and check in with Tsunade for missions. I highly doubt with Naruto having community service hours that they'll be allowed any mission out of the village, but I do need someone reliable in the event that may happen."

"I see… You know I should be with the others, right?"

"I know. But Kagome will forgive me for overriding her orders. I would have sent you to bring her here, but she's stubborn and I know your reservations keep you from forcing her to do anything."

"Ah, I see."

"Well, I think that's all the instructions I really need to leave you. Here's my apartment key. I'm living in G-District, Building A2. Apartment number 6C. I left money on the desk for you. Make sure you jiggle the toilet handle after you use it or it'll run all night. The toaster's wiring is sort of haywire, so make sure you unplug it after you use it or it could start a fire."

"Ah, I see."

"Oh, a word of advice: don't use the coffee maker. It was a gift from Naruto a few years ago. He's got it rigged with a paint bomb and I believe at the time he was really into the orange paint bombs—the kid is really obsessed with orange. I would recommend also not using the kitchen faucet. Shortly after I was assigned to team 7, Naruto conned Sakura and Sasuke into helping him rig the kitchen faucet with a prank of some sort, but I haven't had time to figure out what and haven't had a chance to call a contractor to replace the sink. Sort of been busy looking for _Akatsuki_, as amusing as that is."

"…Oh, really?"

"Um, a warning against opening the third drawer of my dresser too, thanks to Naruto. Make sure you open it while standing off to the side—I keep my pants in that drawer."

"…Question."

"Oh? What is it?"

"It's been what… three years? Why do you still have those traps?"

"I'm a pretty busy Jounin, you know…no time to be worrying about traps set by petty Genin…"

"…You were too busy reading romance novels…"

"Me?"

"Don't bother acting innocent."

"Me? Innocent? Really now…"

"…Hm…"

"Then don't forget to be at the bridge tomorrow at eleven AM. They'll get suspicious if you're late."

xXx

Naruto groaned slightly as he sat up on Iruka's floor, rubbing his eyes. He already missed his comfortable little bed, but Iruka's academy dorm didn't have room for another bed. There was hardly enough room for Sasuke and Naruto to make their beds on the floor. Even though Iruka seemed so happy to have the boy's company, Naruto found it quite awkward.

It was like he'd moved in with his fatherly figure; no, not just like. He did. And he couldn't stand that. He couldn't understand how Iruka could bear living in a dorm with a bed and not much else. Naruto had been living on his own for almost as long as he could remember and it grated on his nerves now to have to stay at Iruka's (by his own error).

If he hadn't gotten into the fight with Sasuke, he would still have an apartment. Of course, now there was a massive hole in the outer wall and several major support beams had been disrupted, making the 10-apartment building uninhabitable. So it was his fault, and he admitted that, but he gave good credit to Sasuke too.

Naruto looked toward the end of Iruka's bed. Sasuke had made his bed there and surprisingly didn't take up very much room at all for being such a tall fifteen year old. The scarred boy had curled up into a tight ball in his sleep. He'd shoved the blankets away from him and wasn't using his pillow. He also slept in just boxers—Iruka's dorm got really hot at night even with the tiny window open.

Sasuke was Naruto's charge. Naruto sighed as he remembered that. He still couldn't believe Tsunade had managed that one, even though the task she'd assigned Naruto seemed _designed_ for failure. After all, how was a shinobi supposed to teach another shinobi to be an ordinary citizen?

Unless, of course, Tsunade knew Naruto's past. He'd been juggling a civilian life and a shinobi life right up to his graduation from the academy. He knew he wouldn't fail, but he also didn't want the world to know Naruto had struggled his whole life either. He didn't want to experience the pity that would come with everyone else knowing his childhood.

Naruto turned to look at his sleeping father-figure. Iruka slept in his small dorm bed with one leg out from his covers and the other leg only half covered. He had sleep-shorts and a wife-beater on, but still appeared to be very warm if the mild case of sweat on his forehead was any indication. His brown hair became a strangled mop when out of it's ponytail, and the blush-like scar across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose seemed nothing but a shadow in the darkness.

It was five thirty AM, so technically Naruto didn't have to be up yet, but he'd had trouble sleeping anyway so instead of lying on a hard floor he figured he'd get up and head to his new storage container and get clean clothes for the day. He shed his orange blankets and folded them up, shoving them and his pillow under Iruka's bed before pulling on yesterday's clothes. He attached his nin-kit and other shinobi gear before kneeling beside his old friend.

Sasuke opened his eyes even before Naruto could shake the boy, and the level of alertness in Sasuke's eyes helped Naruto determine that his old friend hadn't actually been sleeping. He'd probably been awake for a while. 'Stupid show-off,' he thought, but kept himself from voicing it. He didn't know why he felt Sasuke was trying to show off, and didn't question who he could possibly be trying to impress. There was no one around, and no one else to notice he'd been awake the whole time.

"I'm going to the storage shed. Hurry and get up, 'cause I want to stop and get a Realty Paper on the way." Sasuke said nothing but got up and started pulling on his clothes from the day before. They'd spent the entire day before moving all the things Naruto owned into a storage shed, and Naruto had found that Sasuke had a few things of his own—clothes, mostly—so the two ended up splitting the cost of the storage shed fifty-fifty.

Naruto didn't actually own very much. A lot of the things in the apartment already belonged there, like the microwave, stove, and fridge. He had a table and two mismatched chairs, a bed, a toaster (complete with bagel capabilities!), a dresser, a rug for in his bathroom, a weird looking welcome mat (from Kakashi, with the words "Make Out Paradise: The Movie" written on it, with "Welcomes you home" underneath that and the background being the 'posterboard' for the motion picture), his clothes, his dishes and silverware, and a few household utensils. However, it took all day to move the items because Naruto wasn't going to pay a moving wagon fifty dollars to lug his stuff across town.

Instead, he and Sasuke carried all his things from B-District to S-District. Naruto hadn't really said more than three words after they got out of Tsunade's office, and Sasuke said nothing. Honestly, Naruto wanted to say _so much_. He wanted to demand 'Why' but all the questions he wanted to ask lodged in his throat and he couldn't do it. Besides…he knew why, and it wouldn't make a difference if he heard it again.

As Sasuke got dressed, Naruto scribbled a note for Iruka and left it on the small desk. It mostly only said where he was going and what he would be doing for the day, and at the end he thanked Iruka for letting them stay with him until things were worked out. Sasuke was just putting his folded blankets under Iruka's bed when Naruto finished the letter.

They said nothing as they left, and exchanged no words as they walked toward S-District. True to his word, Naruto stopped at a vendor and picked up a Realty Paper, folding it up under his arm. Naruto led them to their new storage shed and they were able to change into clean clothes; Naruto wore another orange and black jumpsuit like usual. Sasuke wore white khaki shorts and a very plain white tee-shirt.

'He seems incomplete without the Uchiha fan,' Naruto thought. He thought he was beginning to understand Sakura's mom's words. Sasuke wasn't home, he was here. And perhaps there really was a difference?

They closed and locked the storage shed and Naruto led the way to a small restaurant where they could sit and look at the Realty Paper and have breakfast. After they had ordered (two breakfast specials), they sat glaring at each other for what seemed forever. Well, Naruto glared openly, and Sasuke simply stared with a bored expression.

Finally, Naruto decided to get it over with. "Okay, here's the thing. Being a civilian isn't hard. You get a job, you go to work, you pay your bills, and on Sunday you go to church. Church'll probably be the hardest part for you, 'cause shinobi generally don't believe in the Gods for simplicity's sake. This paper is the Realty Paper. It has a list of all the available Realty in Konohagakure, obviously enough. It comes out once a week. The Employment Paper comes out daily, but isn't put out until seven AM. Normally you would want to grab one of those, but I'm going to help you get a job so you can start working sooner."

Sasuke looked like he wanted to say something, but then he just nodded. 'Say it!' Naruto thought, but Sasuke didn't hear him screaming in his mind. It was probably a snide comment like 'How do you plan to do that?' It made Naruto really understand that Sasuke truly wasn't back if he would simply comply with his orders.

He glared harder at the other boy as their food was brought. "Eat then. I don't have all morning and _I_ still have to meet with Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan, since I'm not afraid of my own damn shadow." Sasuke didn't rise to the challenge, so Naruto started eating and opened the paper.

By the time he was done eating, he had a few prospects in mind as far as living arrangements went. After they'd eaten, Naruto led Sasuke back across town toward S-District. "Do you have any nice clothes?" he asked Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at his clothes, "What's wrong with what I have on?"

Naruto had to refrain from hitting his rival. "Idiot," it felt justified to finally be the one who knew everything, "you can't go to a civilian job interview looking like that!" Sasuke said nothing but Naruto took them back to the storage and took out his own nice clothes—the very same outfit Sasuke had worn to his hearing with Tsunade and the Council of Elders.

Sasuke looked annoyed, but he donned the clothes.

Naruto then continued further into S-District. They arrived at a massive building with "Stienem's Construction Company" sprawled on a large sign. A sign on the door said, "Now Hiring FT – ALL Positions".

Sasuke, of course, had an entirely different idea of what the sign said than what Naruto _knew_ it said. 'They're hiring _forward thrust_? What the hell? I'm pretty sure that's a combat move, not a job position…' He didn't mention those thoughts but instead asked Naruto, "How did I get an interview here? I thought I had to, er… apply?"

Naruto tacked a half-grin on his face and shrugged at Sasuke. "Normally you would have to apply, but you got me as a reference." He walked in, and Sasuke followed, hiding his confusion.

Naruto walked confidently up to the secretary's desk and saluted the woman in a rather comical gesture. "Mariemi!" he chirped, and the woman stared at him with an open jaw. He laughed. "Come on, it hasn't been that long!" he told her.

She squealed abruptly. "NARU-CHAN!" she squeaked, launching herself right over the top of the desk to tackle Naruto to the floor. It was sort of weird to see, for Sasuke. The woman looked about twenty-five or somewhere around there. Finally, the two were able to stand up again and the woman, 'Mariemi' his mind provided him, said, "Naru-chan, you've grown to be such a _cutie_!"

Naruto blushed a deep red hue that contrasted dangerously with his bright blond hair. "Uh, sure…"

"Don't be so modest, Naru-chan!" she said, hugging Naruto again. "My goodness, you must have brainless blonds following you everywhere!"

Naruto wrinkled his nose at the brunette. "I'm… um… kind of blond, myself, you know, Mariemi… just in case you didn't notice… the yellow hair…"

Mariemi giggled. "Oh, you just wait. There's going to be girls hanging off you like fleas on a fox!" Naruto turned even redder. "But hey! Dad's going to want to know you're here! Did you finally decide to quit being a stupid shinobi and come back to us?!"

"Um, not really," Naruto told her, "but I did want to speak to Gauron." The pretty girl leaned over her counter—both young boys looked away when her skirt lifted a little. Sasuke thought, 'If anyone's a blond, it must be…' he stopped himself from finishing that thought.

The girl picked up a phone and started talking on it. "Daddy," she squealed jovially, "you'll never guess who's come for a visit! … No, not the auditor, daddy, and you wouldn't have that problem if you just did your taxes right in the first place. … No, it isn't the mailman either, and yes I know you're looking for that package but I'm telling you it won't be here until later today or tomorrow! … Oh fine, it's Naru-chan! … No, not Naruchanire the window cleaner, but Naruto! … Daddy, stop joking around, you don't know any other Naruto! … Daddy, just get down here!" the girl steamed at last. She slammed the phone down.

Naruto blinked. "Wow, Mariemi, you're even more demanding than you used to be."

Mariemi stood up straight and adjusted her peach blouse, blushing. "Well, you have to be strict with these construction CEO's or they'll never do what you want them to!" she said. "So, Naruto! How was it with Jiraiya-sama?!"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, well, perverse I guess. But I learned a lot of stuff, like…uh… ninja stuff." He blushed, recalling his fourteenth birthday with Jiraiya. The old man thought it would be a good idea to get Naruto drunk and then bought Naruto a hooker for the night. Instead, drunk-Naruto spent the whole night talking to his hooker about how much he missed 'his Sakura-chan'. Then he spent the next day puking in a toilet while Jiraiya slept peacefully. Worse still, he didn't need to be reminded of the embarrassment, because he remembered.

It was enough to make Naruto decide he would _never_ train under Jiraiya again, even if it meant his life.

"Really! That's soooo cool, Naru-chan! I'm so happy for you, even though I wish you'd come back to us! We got all these dorks around here who don't know a hammer from a two-by-four, and daddy was stupid and bid—and _won_—the Uchiha district project, so now we're pressed between the Gallery Project and the Uchiha District Project. Let me tell you, I'm pretty annoyed at daddy for that one. You want a cookie?"

Mariemi moved from one subject to another so smoothly that both boys were taken aback by the sudden plate of cookies she procured. Both were still trying to process the things she'd spoken of, and Sasuke thought, 'They're the ones who got the district,' with a vague hint of sadness in his gut.

Naruto blurted out, "The Uchiha District? What's going on with that?"

Mariemi looked thoughtful for a moment as Naruto helped himself to two cookies. Unconsciously he handed one to Sasuke, who took it and looked at it with something of dislike. He wasn't fond of sweets—never really had been. "Oh, that's right, you weren't here were you? Oh, well, let's see if I can remember the details. Hatake-san, you know he's _really_ hot under that mask, I'll tell you!"

"Mariemi, you're off topic again," Naruto pointed out. He was a little annoyed because Mariemi had quite clearly gotten to see Kakashi without his mask on… as who else would wear a mask and be called 'Hatake-san'?

"Oops," Mariemi blushed but then instantly continued on track. "Well, Hatake-san actually was the one who came and he convinced daddy to place the bid for the project. I guess daddy owed that gorgeous man a favor, ooh, and I know I wish he owed me a favor—Hatake-san, of course not daddy—and so for the past two years we've been tearing down buildings!"

'Fan-girl,' Sasuke thought, shuddering. Those girls were _scary_. What was scarier than a life-or-death experience? A meeting with a fan-girl and her cohorts.

"How about the Gallery Project?" Naruto asked, with considerable more interest in that subject.

Mariemi shrugged. "Well, that one's not going too bad I guess, but like I said, we're pressed between two massive projects and the Gallery Project's deadline is approaching really fast, but the city won't let us pause the Uchiha District Project. So we're hiring a lot of full-time," Sasuke thought, 'Full-Time, that must be what it stands for,' and Mariemi continued unaware of Sasuke's thoughts, "workers for all positions, both first and second shifts."

"Huh…" Naruto said thoughtfully.

At that moment a side door swung open (and nearly broke the hinges) as a man burst into the room like the stairwell was on fire. "WHEE!!" he yelped before tackling Naruto. That time, Sasuke had to duck out of the way or risk being caught underneath. "Naru-chan!"

"Ow, ow, ow," Naruto moaned. It hurt considerably more when a 180-pound man (in a business suit) tackled him versus when a 95-pound woman tackled him.

"Oops, don't know me own strength, somewhat," the man chuckled as he got up.

It suddenly struck Sasuke that the name 'Stienem's Construction Company' was familiar. 'I now know where Naruto learned to be so exuberant all the time…' Sasuke thought. He shuddered. 'I hope this disease is not contagious,' his mind added wryly.

Naruto stood up, holding his head a bit. "Gauron, it's…" he paused as his head began to throb from its collision with the floor. 'I feel sort of hung over all of a sudden,' Naruto thought. "Um, yeah, Sasuke needs a job." He winced as it came out less smooth than he'd intended for. Of course, he hadn't expected to have his head whacked on the ground either.

Gauron turned to look at Sasuke before blinking. "Hey, you're that one brat everyone's talkin' bout. Eh, whatever." He slung a companionable arm over Sasuke's shoulder. "You left an' I got the district fair an' square!" he said jovially. "So, Sas-chan needs a job, eh, Naru-chan?!"

'Don't call me that,' Sasuke thought but the words never made it out of his mouth.

"Oooh, Naru-chan, you brought us a _cutie­!_" Mariemi squealed. "Daddy, you just _have_ to hire him!" It appeared Mariemi had _nothing_ against a scarred face or a shaved head. Still, he couldn't wait until his hair grew back out. It was about an inch long now, so he hoped to have a good length by the end of the year. He felt naked without his hair.

"Wahaha!" Gauron laughed. "I like you kid! Ya got guts t' run like ya did, an' ya even came back, an' didn't run when ya got ya punishment. Makes me all googly inside when ya young'n's act stupid, then get smart. Ya hired!"

'Just like that?' Sasuke thought. 'I don't get it…'

"Oooh!" Mariemi squeaked and latched onto Sasuke's other side. "Daddy, thank you thank you thank you! Can he be a receptionist so I can have him all day?"

'No no no no no!' Sasuke thought, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Naruto trying to hide a fit of laughter.

And then, of course, Gauron chirped, "Of course, sweets! I'll hire this chit full-time for you, and you can have him from eight AM until five PM, of course with mandatory overtime! Wahaha!" Mariemi squealed again as the lobby clock began to chime the eighth hour of the morning. "Look at that," Gauron laughed, "ya early enough to start work today!"

Mariemi began dragging Sasuke away and Naruto was in tears because he was laughing so hard. Sasuke looked funny.

Gauron skipped to the door he'd burst out of and nearly threw it off the hinges as he went to enter. That was one thing about the Stienem family… they were weirder than the average population in Konohagakure. They were unconventionally rich, and Mariemi was a spoiled child. Finally Naruto could go to the bridge and meet Sakura and Kakashi. He was _so_ going to tell Sakura about this little 'event'.

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews everybody! **Dark Inu Fan (Mahahaha! His first job is a receptionist!), Skitzoflame (Guess you'll have to wait to find out like everyone else...), regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, supersillee06 (Interesting is a good way to put it), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Bad compy, bad! I never thought I'd like a NarutoInuyasha crossover this much, and my other stories are suffering for it), KuroxTenshi, Kagome Lady of Darkness, S.T. Nickolian (I told someone Kakashi would be mad at the note, but it didn't work as well as I wanted it to and Kakashi didn't get mad as I tried to instruct him to... see he doesn't even listen to the author! Damn him!), EagleMaster (you're new! Welcome! and as usual, I can't tell anyone who Kagome's being paired with, 'cause it wouldn't be as fun if I did that) vnienhuis (you're also new! Welcome! Can't say who Kagome's paired with, sorry!). And as usual, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 18 after I posted chapter 19. 

ANSWER: This story is _fun_! And now, it's got me having _other_ NarutoInuyasha crossover ideas. Damn this story!

_Deep in the bottom of the gentle night is when I search for the light pick up my pen and start to write I struggle and fight dark forces in the clear moon light without fear, Insomnia - I can't get no sleep... without reviews. Hehe, please review! (And name that song!)_


	20. Peony Blossom

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

* * *

Chapter twenty: Peony Blossom

Naruto left Stienem's building with a small swirl of hope building in his gut. Maybe, he thought, it wouldn't be so bad. He had seen a little bit of Sasuke—the one he used to know—back there, and that was a good thing.

As he slowly made his way toward the old academy district bridge, he felt a peaceful smile cross his lips and folded his hands behind his head. He was in such a good mood as he passed Ino's parent's flower shop, he decided to pull out his favorite old Gama-chan wallet and count his money.

He didn't have too much cash on him, so he would have to go to the bank soon; his paycheck from his last mission should have been deposited by the time he was able to go. But to his pleasure, he seemed to have just enough money for a flower, though it had to be a special one.

As quietly as he could, he entered the shop. Ino's mother was wrapping up a very beautiful bouquet for an old woman, smiling and laughing with the frail little civilian lady. Ino was through an open door in the greenhouse, fully visible, and she had a watering can in her hand.

As the bell to the shop tinkled, Ino peered into the room and when she saw him, she smiled and waved. Ino looked to see if her mother was still busy and upon noticing that the other woman was, Ino set the watering can down and came into the shop area. He almost felt a little uncomfortable being in a flower shop.

"Naruto!" Ino said in greeting, "Not getting in trouble again, are you?" Somehow, he felt she was teasing him and had the decency to blush. He ducked his head slightly and shook his head. Ino laughed, "Well, that's good," she told him, "because our greenhouse is more fragile than your apartment complex, that's for sure."

"Hehe," he said, still clutching his trusty little Gama-chan in his hands nervously. It just figured that everyone would already know about that. "Um, Ino, I was wondering," he began, shooting a nervous glance at Ino's mother. The woman was still busy with the old lady. Ino's parents were both people who had hated Naruto for a long time—because of the Kyuubi, probably, or maybe because he once painted graffiti on their shop.

But it was a beautiful mural of a field of flowers—a scenic view! It was a masterpiece! Or at least, in his opinion it was, and he was a damn good painter even if he was the one congratulating himself on it. Either way, neither of them 'approved' of Naruto. But he just wanted a flower.

"What's up, Naruto?" Ino asked curiously. She saw his glance and smiled reassuringly at him (not that it helped his queasy stomach much). He thought Ino seemed different now. Somehow she seemed less annoying than he remembered her.

"Um, well…" he blurted it out as quickly as he could to get it over with. "I wanna buy a flower, but not just any flower, it has to be a special flower! One that's real pretty and smells real nice!" Ino didn't have any trouble deciphering his jumbled sentence, but he supposed after being teamed with Chouji (who sometimes talked with his mouth full), no one could ever be misunderstood so long as they spoke her language.

Ino grinned at him and said, "Okay, Naruto. Come on into the greenhouse, and I can help you." He followed her as she turned around and went into the glass dome. "You know, it's good you came early. I was just about to leave to meet up with Shikamaru and Chouji and Asuma-sensei. But there's still plenty of time before nine."

He agreed with that obvious statement. Most teams seemed to meet up at nine AM in their various meeting spots. Team 7 had always met at the bridge to the academy district. Sasuke used to get to the meeting area at eight, and Sakura would go earlier to spend time with Sasuke. Naruto got there at nine or around that time. Kakashi was rarely ever on time, unless he knew ahead of time that they had an important mission.

So he had plenty of time to get there.

"What do you need the flower for, Naruto?" Ino asked as they walked by a lot of very beautiful, wonderfully fragrant smelling flowers. When he hesitated to answer, she rephrased her question. "What do you want the flower to say?"

"Um…" he thought carefully about that, figuring it to be an important question. Indeed, it really was an important question, and he knew girls seemed to see the meaning in flowers simply by looking at it. He didn't want his flower to say the wrong thing to the special person he wanted to give it to. "How about… _Everything's going to be okay_… Can a flower say that?"

Ino blinked at Naruto, surprised by him. But slowly she nodded and began walking through the rows again. She led him to a beautiful little man-made pond. On the surface, little water-lilies floated around amongst lily-pads. Ino waved at the pretty little white flowers. "Here, do you like these ones?" she asked him.

He stared at the pretty flowers for a moment before bending and sniffing one. He was reminded of the way Kagome smelled the day they had been falling off the cliff and he'd held her in their descent. They were pretty and smelled nice, but didn't seem special enough for who he wanted to give it to.

"Uh," he started, blushing as he stood, "do you have any…others? That would say that, I mean?"

Ino chuckled. "We have thousands of choices, Naruto! Come on then." She led him through rows and rows of flowers and he came to realize just how big their greenhouse really was. He was amazed by the delightful scents he smelled all around him and _almost_ wished he could spend a whole day in the greenhouse, though he knew if he did he would look like a pansy in front of the other guys.

They stopped in front of a large bush in a potted plant. It had some of the largest, most intriguing blooms he'd ever seen. It looked almost like the flower had mastered the real clone technique just like Naruto had. It was white and as he smelled it, he knew it had to be the one.

"Yeah, this is it!" he said. "What's it called?"

Ino smiled. "It's a peony bush. It's blooms are very sturdy and every time the bush is cut down, it grows right back…" she grinned, "Sounds kind of like a stubborn guy I know."

He blinked at Ino in confusion. "Kiba?"

Ino laughed. "Actually, this guy is blond. Would you like one of these?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically and Ino went to carefully cut one of the beautifully maintained flowers using a special gardening shear. Her first comment went in one ear and out of the other for the most part not registering in his brain. "Uh, Ino?" he asked. She held the flower delicately and turned her attention back to him. "Can you wrap it up real nice?"

Ino nodded. "Sure I can." She led the way back to the main shop where Naruto was quick to notice Ino's mother was no longer busy. Once they were at the register and Ino was wrapping the flower up—he felt very lucky to see she was wrapping the pretty white flower in an orange paper wrap and an orange ribbon—Ino asked, "So who's the lucky girl, Naruto?"

Naruto blushed and set Gama-chan on the counter as he counted his money. "Nobody," he muttered as Ino's mother looked at Naruto with suspicion. "How much for the flower?" He didn't know why he felt so embarrassed.

"Only six dollars," Ino told him. He handed over the money and accepted the flower from a secretive-looking Ino. "She'll love it, Naruto." Ino told him.

"T-thanks," he said, his blush going to the roots of his blond hair as he practically dashed out, headed for the bridge. He didn't notice that his ever faithful Gama-chan was still on the counter.

He made it to the bridge early, still slightly flushed, and somewhat out of breath. Sakura wasn't there yet, but he guessed she wouldn't be since Sasuke wasn't there to be early for. He hopped up onto the rail, careful of the flower, and sat to wait for Sakura. She came at exactly nine o'clock, watching her feet as she walked instead of where she was going.

She was still blue over the whole Sasuke situation, Naruto was positive. He quickly hopped off the rail and hid the flower behind his back even though the slight crinkling of paper seemed to make too much noise. "Sakura-chan, good morning!" he chirped in a tone sure to set a good mood.

Sakura looked at him briefly before stopping at the middle of the bridge and leaning on the rail. She looked down at the water beneath the bridge and sighed heavily. "If you want to call it that," she grumbled. "I hope Sensei is on time today."

She seemed so sad that for a minute he almost felt the same way. He had to remind himself that there was still hope and knew that there was. Sasuke was _going_ to come back, he just knew it. "Sakura-chan, um," he started, though he wasn't entirely sure what to say. He wasn't the greatest at planning ahead. That was usually Sasuke's job in their team, though sometimes he had moments of epiphany, however inexplicably contrived they were.

Sakura rested her chin on her hands, leaning up against the bridge. "You know, Naruto," she began, sighing again, "I'm the most confusing girl I know."

He was considerably confused by her line of conversation. "I thought girls were _supposed_ to be confusing, though." He began and then wondered if he was actually not supposed to answer her.

She laughed bitterly, "If you knew what was going on in my head and my heart, you'd understand that even us girls are supposed to be a little less confused than I am."

'Now or never,' he thought, understanding that he might not get another chance with the way their strange conversation seemed to be going. He moved up to stand beside her at the rail and held the flower in front of her so she could see it's awkward but beautiful bloom.

She blinked at it several times before reaching out to take the very Naruto-ish flower. She looked at Naruto as though she wanted to say something but he just gave her an embarrassed, lop-sided grin. "Well, I am your teammate, right?" he asked her. "And… I'd really like to know…" He scratched the back of his neck, wishing he'd thought of something more cool to say. Sasuke would have. Of course, Sasuke always was the epitome of cool.

"Naruto, I…" Sakura paused, but then only seconds later burst into tears.

Fearing he did something wrong, he started backing away. "Uh, er… was it the flower?" he asked. He hadn't told Ino it was for Sakura because he was afraid Ino and Sakura's rivalry would make the blond girl decide to choose a bad flower. "I mean, I could've gotten the first flower Ino suggested! I can still go get it if it'll make you stop crying!"

Sakura hiccupped, gave a half-laugh, and then continued sobbing. "N-no, Naru-ruto!" she hiccupped again. "I l-love i-it!" she snorted with both laughter and sobs somehow simultaneously, which he had thought impossible until now. "Th-thank-you!" She hugged the flower as though it were very precious to her as she rubbed her wet eyes with one hand.

"Th-then why are you crying?!" he was on the verge of what felt like a mental breakdown. He hadn't meant to make her sad because that was the last thing he wanted to do. He got it with the hope that it might make her happy at least a little after she'd stormed out of Tsunade's office in tears.

"Because, you dolt!" she cried, "I'm happy!" And she really was happy. Even if she wouldn't tell Naruto what was wrong, he still cared enough to ask. After all, how could she tell Naruto that she felt both love for and fear of him? The mention of Kyuubi was still looming over her head and as she wrote her mission report on what happened during the last mission, she was simply torn at whether or not she should tell the truth that Naruto claimed to see Kyuubi.

On the one hand, she felt it would be wrong to leave that detail out, but on the other, she felt that putting it in might cause Naruto unnecessary trouble. She feared him because he said he could see Kyuubi, so she came to understand that it wasn't entirely Naruto she feared but the demon itself. Then there was also the problem that Naruto had started to grow quite a bit on her since his return.

Somehow, it was an entirely alien feeling she had for him. It didn't seem to be love or infatuation, and neither did it feel like a familial relation. She couldn't explain it, but somehow it was different. It was almost… a feeing of security.

But she couldn't tell him all that, especially without hurting his feelings, could she? Instead, she felt a bright smile cross her face as she looked at the orange-wrapped flower, running the pad of one finger gently across the petals. "Naruto, I," she started and looked deep into his bright blue eyes. Her tone softened, but seemed to lose most of its depressed air; not all of it, but most of it. "I have faith in you."

He loved to hear those words and smiled for it. "Thanks, Sakura-chan," he told her.

They turned to watch the flow of the river beneath the bridge with the hard part of the conversation behind them at last. The panic at seeing her cry seeped away from him and he grinned at Sakura's reflection. "Sasuke has a job now you know."

"So soon?" Sakura asked with surprise clear in her tone.

He nodded and quickly told Sakura all about his interesting morning at Stienem's and by the time he was done, he had Sakura laughing so hard she was holding her sides while trying not to wreck her flower. He leaned his elbows on the bridge rail, smiling at their reflections. Finally Sakura seemed to be looking brighter than she had in days.

"You know, Naruto," she said when she could manage more than one word without laughing, "you haven't told me anything about your time with Jiraiya yet."

His smile almost instantly turned into a frown. His journey with Jiraiya hadn't exactly been an easy one, but neither had it been a bad one. Certainly there were a few parts of it that he would really prefer not to talk about. It had been difficult. When Naruto wasn't sleeping (which seemed like a dream to achieve a good night's rest with Jiraiya—when the old man got _serious_ about training, anyway) he was training.

It was always one thing or another and they wandered all over the world with what seemed to be no real destination. Jiraiya had worked Naruto so hard that the boy never really noticed he was growing and maturing until Jiraiya mentioned that Naruto's ragged old jumpsuit was several inches too short.

They had actually gotten a short break from training so that Naruto could have new clothes made to fit. A lot of the things Naruto learned were completely unconventional things; skills he could never picture himself using in the future. But he still retained the knowledge in case, and he did respect the perverted frog hermit a great deal. Jiraiya was a great teacher (when he wasn't drunk enough to forget he was supposed to teach Naruto).

Naruto supposed he must have been lost in his thoughts too long, trying to figure out where to begin when Sakura said, "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to." She seemed sorry for asking, but it wasn't at all that he didn't want to talk about it.

No, there were lots of things he wanted to talk about; it was just a matter of where he should begin and then deciding what was too embarrassing to mention to someone like Sakura (i.e. – the girl).

"Sakura-chan, even if I told you some of the things, you probably wouldn't believe them!" he half-joked with her, blushing as he remembered the city of Cambria in Sound Country. It was almost six months past since _that_ mess occurred, and he was still incredibly embarrassed over it. "But I guess… Well, it's been a long journey. I met some pretty neat people though!" He turned the conversation around, hoping for more time to decide what to say or not say, "And hey, you haven't said anything about your time here. Did you go on lots of cool missions?"

A guilty smile crossed Sakura's features and she said, "No. I guess… it's my fault really. I didn't mesh well with the teams Tsunade put me with, so she decided to take me on as a combat apprentice as hers as well as her medic apprentice."

"You couldn't get along with Kiba and the rest of our classmates?" he was surprised as she slowly shook her head. "Why not?"

"I… It's just… nothing," she sighed. "I mean, it's not a big deal." He wisely decided to drop that subject and looked at his waterproof watch for the time. 11:54 AM.

"Kakashi-sensei's real late today." He sighed. "I wonder if he remembered us or just got used to not meeting up…" After all, Kakashi had almost three years without Team 7 meeting up, didn't he? His stomach growled, alerting him to the fact that he'd eaten an early breakfast (and hadn't had ramen in quite a long time).

"I'm sure he'll be here, Naruto," Sakura told her teammate assuredly, even though she herself wasn't sure Kakashi was coming. Two more minutes passed and those two minutes felt like years as silence drifted toward them down the river. The more the seconds passed with no Jounin arriving, the more both of them felt angry. There was a familiar 'pop' noise behind them and the two whirled around.

"YOU'RE LATE!" they both steamed in unison, ready to 'pop' their teacher in the nose for his evil deed. However, when they saw their teacher, their jaws dropped and then Naruto fell over into helpless guffaws as Sakura laughed in wicked humor. How could they stay mad at that face?

"Orange hair!" Naruto cackled.

"Purple skin," Sakura could hardly breathe. Both of them looked at Kakashi's hands. Indeed, Kakashi's hands were also very purple. It was almost like someone dyed his hair orange and painted his skin with food coloring. To top that off, the minute Sakura and Naruto had yelled at him for being late, a swelter of various emotions flicked through that black eye: fear, nervousness, and irritation were most of them.

"Let's go," their teacher growled in obvious irritation. He walked toward Hokage tower, limping a bit as though he'd suffered a rather painful encounter with something hard in one thigh.

Naruto and Sakura stumbled after their teacher, trying to stifle their laughter. It wasn't working very well and they could see their teacher tensing up quite visibly. Even with the mask in place, they could still see the movement of his jaw confirming that he was grinding his teeth in obvious frustration.

They did manage to stop laughing by the time they got to Hokage tower, but then of course Tsunade just had to stare at Kakashi for the longest minute they'd ever experienced (while trying to keep back their grins) and then Tsunade just _had_ to ask, "What happened to you?"

Of course, Sakura and Naruto _knew_ because they both remembered the orange and purple pranks. They had simply assumed Kakashi had them removed before any damage could ever be done. Now, they knew the truth.

The two fifteen year olds were forced to lean on each other for support or risk tilting over, they were laughing so hard. Their teacher looked like he wanted to say something but was biting it back. The look in his black eye was one of frustration and uncontained rage.

xXx

12:10 PM. Sasuke sighed as he leaned against the rail of the bridge, resting his face in his hands. He could remember the days when he and the other members of Team 7 would sit beneath the bridge and eat their lunch. He had almost let himself hope the others would still keep up that practice and perhaps he might be able to say hello before heading back to Stienem's when his lunch break was over.

Of course, he wasn't so lucky. He didn't know why he had almost let himself _almost hope_ that things could return to normal soon. Things were different now and he was to blame. He was the cause of the change and there was quite honestly nothing he could do about that. All he could do now was head back to the insane woman he now served a sentence under and pretend.

To pretend people didn't change because of him. To pretend nothing ever happened.

…And maybe if he pretended enough, he could make himself believe he wasn't a coward? Somehow he doubted that.

He swung himself up onto the rail, making it his seat. His feet dangled over the edge above the water. He let his elbows rest on his knees, balancing precariously. His reflection in the water completely destroyed his little 'pretend' game, because the obvious 'x' scar on his face and his shamefully shaved head was a reminder—almost a painful one.

_You know, kid, you're too hard on yourself._ It was that voice again; the one that had stopped him from telling Tsunade and the others what Orochimaru's plans had been. It didn't seem like a part of him, but it also didn't seem to want to leave him alone.

"And why is that?" he quietly asked the voice, not really caring if it seemed to anyone walking by that he was talking to himself. After all, eventually he figured he'd go completely insane if he had to spend eight hours a day with Mariemi.

_Even though things have changed, it doesn't mean it's for the worst. _He sighed again and wished he could see the voice so he could glare at it until it shut up. Of course, he couldn't glare at something that wasn't even there, so he had to settle with looking at the reflection beneath him.

"How would you know?" he demanded softly. Something internal urged him to demand, "It isn't like you've ever run away!" It was a conscious effort to keep from yelling at the voice that was talking to him.

_Is that so, dear Sasuke-kun?_ The voice sounded like it was mocking him. He was forced to question yet again if that voice was him or not; at times it seemed like it could be and at the same time he felt it couldn't possibly be him. _But consider this: if I were not caged, would I run?_

He paused, trying to understand that question. The voice was caged? In what, or where, was it caged? "Caged?" he whispered, wondering if the curse-seal that Orochimaru had put on him was actually communicating with him. It seemed possible; Kabuto himself had put a strange seal on the curse just before kicking Sasuke into the Abyss River for in case Sasuke survived. It wasn't permanent; the more he used chakra, the more chance the seal had of breaking away from the curse.

_Yes, caged… _the voice breathed. _Without these bars before me, would I still be here? Would I bother with this world, or would I run from here and leave you foolish creatures to your games?_

"Who _are_ you?" Sasuke asked the voice, but he wasn't allowed an answer to his question; instead he was given more questions.

_Haven't you figured out what Orochimaru would have done if you had not gone willingly to him?_ Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, but the voice kept talking without care for an answer. _He wanted you Sasuke-kun, and through this tiny little mark,_ Sasuke almost felt like a cold, wet hand had brushed over where the curse-seal was on his left shoulder and instantly raised a hand to cover it. _Through this… he will forever have you, Sasuke-kun._

The voice seemed to chuckle without humor and Sasuke began looking around, activating the Sharingan with the hope that he might see what was breathing down his neck. He could _feel_ the warm breath, but even looking through the Sharingan, he couldn't see the thing.

_Oh, Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun… You don't want to be used by Orochimaru, do you? But you will be… You don't like change, but everything is changing. You like having control over every aspect of your life, but now you can control nothing. _

"Who are you?" he demanded again, still looking around for whoever was talking. No one was there and he was vaguely disturbed by it.

_I am trouble. You don't want to know me. But I don't even have to connect with Naruto to know you._

"Kyuubi!" he breathed, trying to find the fox. Still he could find nothing and no one. "Show yourself and quit playing games in my head!"

_There's nothing to show, and I'm not playing games, Sasuke-kun,_ he swore he could feel the fox's grin and it harbored a mega-load of ill-intent and devious nature to it. Well, he supposed a fox would be a fox, but he didn't like to be the pawn in the creature's game.

"Then what are you doing?" He asked.

_Having a delightful conversation. I haven't had very many of these for a while, but ever since I came face-to-face with Naruto, I've been gaining strength. I'm fairly certain the two of us were never supposed to meet, but that's just yet another thing the silly little mortals you call your Council of Elders miscalculated… Much like the Uchiha clan. _

"What are you talking about?" he wasn't sure he wanted to know, but the question just seemed to pop out unbidden. "What about the Uchiha clan?"

_Oh, nothing, nothing… After all, you hate Itachi, so it wouldn't be like you could possibly understand. _Sasuke felt very irritated at Kyuubi. It was like Kyuubi was playing Keep-A-Way and Sasuke was in the middle. He always did hate being 'it'. _I mean, he did save **your** pathetic ass by sparing you. Shouldn't you be **grateful**? _

"Grateful?" Sasuke hissed at his reflection. "Everyone is dead! Why would I be grateful for that?"

_Hehe, well, see? I told you, you just wouldn't understand. I guess you're still too much of a child. I hope, for your sake, you don't accidentally bump into Itachi any time soon. _

"Shut up, Kyuubi!" he growled, clutching his head as the fox continued to taunt him. He wasn't sure how much more of it he could take.

_Shut up? Now isn't that a bit rude?_

"He killed everyone! Then he kicked my ass and called me weak and told me the only way I could kill him was to hate everyone! He's a murderer! Everyone is dead because of him!"

_Didn't the massacre happen on a Sunday?_ Kyuubi asked thoughtfully. _I wonder why you would have 'come home from school' to see everyone dead… Didn't Fugaku keep you locked in your play room on Sundays so you wouldn't sneak around with Naruto? Or… well, hmm… who knows? Maybe there magically happened to be school that **one** Sunday. _

Sasuke wished he had hair to clutch onto, but as it was he only had stubble. Perhaps that was a good thing, because he might have been pulling it out in frustration. The fox was tearing at Sasuke's memories and he couldn't help but question the very things he remembered. Now that the fox pointed it out, there were an unorthodox amount of discrepancies.

_Ah, well._ If he could see the fox, Sasuke was sure the creature would have shrugged his shoulders. _Not like you care about the truth anyway. I mean, if you were to see Itachi, you'd probably just blindly swing at him like always, never thinking, and pretend you know everything—which you obviously don't because you won't even question yourself, so why would you question anyone else's motives? Agh, it's not really my concern though, so I won't tell you about the Council of Elders and the Uchiha clan and Itachi and what you mortals call the 'Kyuubi incident'… Nah, I won't even point out to you that tiny fact that other than you, there really were no new births to the Uchiha clan… oh, I've said too much and you'll be late to work. _

Sasuke was completely, utterly vexed at the fox. He was sure the creature had purposefully done that so that Sasuke came out with more questions than he had to begin with, and he could practically _taste_ the emptiness that resulted in the fox's departure—however vague it had been.

He slowly trudged back to the insane asylum he had already come to term his new job as, mulling over his memories, picking out each and every discrepancy he could remember. He promised himself that later on that night he was going to write down everything and try to figure out what Kyuubi had been trying to NOT-say.

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**Thanks for the reviews everybody! **StarlitBaby, ancient-relic (Funny story: I promised myself I wasn't going to update unless I could update all my other stories at the same time... that didn't work), Kagome Lady of Darkness, regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, Dark Inu Fan (hehehe, wait till you see what Mariemi makes him do!), supersillee06 (Kakashi? In trouble? You must be joking!), KuroxTenshi (I would also be lying), Hiei's Cute Girl (Someone's gotta be that way to him!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I'm thinking about making Kagome a fan of the 'Make-Out Paradise' collection!), and as usual, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 19 after I posted chapter 20. 

ANSWER: I...must...update...other...stories...

_The Crazy Frog song, Popcorn, doesn't really have real words, so no fun lyrics this time... Hehe, please review! Bak bak chicky chicky chicky chicky wa wa chick chick chuu chi-chicka chika chu, bak bak chicky chicky chicky chicky wa wa chick chick chuu, chi-chicka chika chu, YEE-HAW!_


	21. Talking Teens

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

* * *

Chapter twentyone: Talking Teens

Three days had passed before Naruto got his first chance to take a breather from his increased duty load. Between making sure Sasuke was living like an ordinary citizen, meeting up with Sakura and Kakashi, and then working his behind off doing menial tasks for his community service work, he was too exhausted to even remember his father's journey log much less read any of it.

Then to top off his exhaustion, Iruka's dorm was usually too hot to sleep in for Naruto's comfort, and so he wasn't sleeping well. His mild sleeping discomfort was also due to the fact that he woke several times during the night to be sure Sasuke was still in the room. He was almost afraid to fall asleep, as though if he did Sasuke wouldn't be there when he woke.

He had reason to fear that though; reason one being Sasuke's disappearance years ago just after the Uchiha massacre. That night so long ago, when Naruto had fallen asleep with his best friend lying beside him, he'd woken up with Sasuke gone and no note to where the boy went off to. Reason two was obvious enough to go without mention.

But finally Naruto got his momentary time alone. Sasuke had gone to work, and Team Kakashi wasn't meeting because Kakashi finally found someone who could bleach his hair and skin back to their normal colors. Naruto still found it hilarious how long it took Kakashi to find someone who could do the job. Since they weren't meeting, Sakura signed up for a few hours work at the hospital, leaving Naruto to amuse himself.

He'd toyed with the idea of going to the academy and bugging Iruka and seeing if there was anything he could help with, but decided against it after recalling Iruka's classroom no-nonsense temperament. After that, he thought about visiting some of his other friends around Konoha, but most of them had gone on missions. Only Kiba's group remained, and Naruto was sort of unnerved by the way Hinata kept sneaking glances at him when he was around so he decided against going to see Kiba.

Besides that, they were with Kurenai, and that woman was somehow very scary. He didn't have to show up to his community service either, because Tsunade didn't have anything for him to do. Apparently Konohamaru painted Tsunade's stone face so to punish him, Tsunade gave him one hundred hours of community service and was keeping the mini-Naruto running with all his work.

So, Naruto had a whole day free, at least until Tsunade found drudge work for him. He sighed as he pulled on clothes just like what he wore every day and his nin-gear. There was no point in being unprepared, especially with Kakashi as a teammate-slash-teacher. He could remember the days when Kakashi used to test them all to make sure they were 'prepared' for a battle at any time.

All Kakashi seemed to do by sneaking up on Team 7 was make them all super paranoid.

With a slightly forlorn smile on his face, Naruto grabbed up the journey log and left Iruka's dorm. Yes, he could remember many happier days. He just wished things had never changed. He would trade all the techniques the last three years had given him for Sasuke to have never left. However, that wasn't going to happen and he had to face that truth.

He went to the bank first thing; he knew he needed money since he'd spent almost all his remaining cash on Sakura's flower. There had been two large deposits in his account. One was from Real Electronics—a deposit he had no intention of touching because he was too embarrassed still by how he'd come by that money. The other was from the city of Konohagakure treasury—that being the deposit for his last mission with Team Kakashi (escorting Kagome home).

While he was at the bank taking money out, he realized then that he didn't have Gama-chan to put his money in. At first he was just confused by Gama-chan's disappearance but he figured he must have just left Gama-chan at Iruka's dorm. So, he went back to Iruka's dorm to check, but a thorough search provided no results. Next he decided to check for Gama-chan in his other jumpsuits at the storage shed, but still he had no results.

That was when his panic meter started going up. It went from mildly concerned straight to Oh-My-Goodness-Gama-chan-Is-Lost-All-Hell-Will-Break-Loose!

"Agh!" he yelled in frustration, trying to remember the last time he'd seen Gama-chan. The little frog wallet, from what Naruto could remember, had last been seen in Ino's flower shop. Of course, he was sure he must have used it somewhere else, since that was three days ago. Plus there were thousands of places he could have gone where he maybe dropped Gama-chan.

"Poor Gama-chan," Naruto whined as he made his way from the storage shed to Ino's flower shop. Since it was the last place he remembered seeing Gama-chan, he decided it was as good a place to start looking as any.

Ino's mother was not pleased to see Naruto back, but upon questioning her, the woman was able to verify that she had seen the wallet and Ino had said she would return it three days earlier. Naruto supposed it would be reasonable to assume that Ino had ended up going on her mission before she could return Gama-chan, since Ino's team left on a mission three days before and that seemed to coincide with the last time Gama-chan had been seen.

Hoping for the best safety of Gama-chan, Naruto decided against scouring the rest of Konoha and resigned himself to keeping his money in his pocket in loose form until Ino returned. Sighing to himself, he made his way to the bridge by the academy district. He knew he could have been spending his time training, but the call of the book had only grown during the time he couldn't read.

He settled in for a long afternoon of relaxation under the bridge. Sakura had said she'd meet him there for lunch; he didn't know if that meant they would meet up and go to lunch, or what, but he decided to find out when she came.

Opening the plain leather-bound book, he riffled through the pages for the entry he'd left off on, reviewing what he had read before that and then continuing on with the next entry. Almost instantly he was captivated by the simple words the Fourth Hokage had written.

_October 9. I miss mom a lot. I wonder what she's up to and if Huro is back on missions again. I asked Reitle-sensei if she knew Huro, but she said it was a whole other part of the clan that worked with Summoners. You know, it's really strange to me, because there's got to be only fifty of us, and yet there's hardly any interaction between Summoners and Summon Exterminators. …I really miss mom. _

Again, Naruto wondered who Huro was to the Fourth, since he'd never heard of anyone with that name before. From what he remembered and what was written, Huro was a Summoner just like Sasuke believed Naruto was capable of being. But who _was_ he?

_January 23. Reitle-sensei said I'm not taking control of my Maryoku enough. I have to try harder. She said it's especially important because next month I'll begin the Hunt. It means that every week, I'll train with a Summoner for one hour, and try to surpass the Summon Creatures. _

Naruto found himself secretly wishing his father good luck on his 'Hunt'. If he had to be stronger than a Summon Creature, and they were anything like those talking dogs or Kyuubi, then anyone would need that luck.

_January 19. Wow, I didn't realize it had been a year since I wrote in here last. I know, daily journey log means every day, but sometimes I barely have the energy to chew my food (lunch is usually soup broth, so I don't have to waste the energy). _

Naruto could empathize with that, especially the last few days. He was running back and forth so much that he didn't seem to have time to eat. It was only because of Sakura that Naruto ate lunch the last few days—she'd gotten real nice toward him lately—and only because of Iruka that he ate supper. He hadn't eaten breakfast since the day Sasuke got his job.

_I can make clones. Oh, sweet clones! I can't wait to get back to Konoha. I'm going to walk up to the academy with an army of clones at my back and sensei will run away screaming like a girl. _

Naruto laughed out loud at that description of his father's sensei even while congratulating Kyo internally for the progress he'd made. Naruto knew from experience how tough that used to be to make clones. Now it was almost an unconscious action that he performed during battles.

_There's this weapon that is really hard to master, but Reitle-sensei said my progress with it is going better than the others'. I guess that's not a lot to compare it to, considering there are only three others in my class. It's called 'Hiraikotsu' and it's a giant boomerang made of the bones of a Summon Creature. A lot of weapons and armor the Yobidasu uses are made of the bones of a Summon Creature, actually. _

That sort of sounded gross to Naruto. He preferred metal weapons, and he did wonder about that. Wouldn't metal be sharper than bone? Naruto found himself a little miffed that he didn't get to know how the Hunt had gone.

_See, even the Summon Creatures who are dead serve a purpose with these guys, but the Summon Creatures don't seem bothered by the fact that their bones go to the use of weapons and armor. I met a Summoner who had a Summon Creature summoned a few months ago and asked about the bones thing, and do you know what the Summon Creature said? "A smart youkai does not get himself killed." _

_A little weird. But then I talked to the Summoner and he told me their weapons-smith is a Summon Creature. Not one weapon goes out of the forge without Toutousai's approval, and Toutousai uses the remains of Summon Creatures so they really have no choice but to accept bones for weapons. _

Maybe, Naruto thought, a Summon Creature could make a bone weapon as sharp as metal?

_My Hunt is going great._

Ah, there: he would get to know about the Hunt after all.

_It's helping me prepare against the fear of going up against Summon Creatures, since that's what I'm essentially being trained to do. Each time I manage to surpass one level of Summon Creature, I go up against a new, higher level one. The higher the level of Summon Creature, the more human looking they are. I used to hear talk about tails being a regard for how powerful the creature is, but when I asked Reitle-sensei about that, she laughed at me. "I'd be more scared if I found out you were a Summon Creature than if I found out some puppy with five tails was a Summon Creature." I sort of get it, I think. _

Naruto nearly jumped three feet into the air in fright when Sakura startled him out of his reading stupor by demanding, "Are you reading those pervert books, Uzumaki, Naruto!" She had two take-out dishes stacked in her hands and was standing over him with anger in her features. He knew she had just come from the hospital since she was still dressed in the white uniform.

Naruto hid the book behind him, a bit of a guilty look on his face to be caught reading. He had planned to put the book away just before her expected arrival time and act like he'd been training the whole time. "No," he told her, not daring to look at her.

Sakura glared at the guilty look on her friend's face. She was sure he was lying to her, but it wasn't like he was giving her much reason to think otherwise. He looked guilty, he sounded guilty, and he was hiding the book. It seemed almost worse than Kakashi reading them right out in the open.

She set the take-out trays down and advanced on Naruto, holding her hand out expectantly. "Hand it over!" she ordered. "It's for your own good, Naruto! If you keep reading pervert books, you'll just end up like Kakashi-sensei, or that perverted hermit Jiraiya!"

Naruto stood stubbornly, holding it tight to him. "I won't give it to you." Of course, he didn't really want to tell her what the actual book was about. Somehow it seemed too personal to tell Sakura and he had the impression she wouldn't believe him anyway. He wasn't giving her enough credit though.

"Naruto, give!" Sakura told him, stepping closer to him. She reached out and had her hand on the book; the two of them got into a bit of a scuffle over the book. It was his own fault for giving his teammate so little trust. "Naruto, it's for your own good!" Sakura insisted, trying to pry the book away. "And I won't let you be corrupt!"

Naruto fell on his rump again, but managed to keep a hold of the book. Sakura bent and reached for the book but he continued to hold it out of her reach. It wasn't until Sakura could feel the heat of Naruto's breath on her neck that she realized what sort of awkward position the two of them were in.

Naruto sat on the ground, one hand on her waist to keep her somewhat distanced, the other stretched out to keep the book out of her reach. Sakura practically straddled Naruto's lap, her hand reaching for the book while the other was on his shoulder to steady her. Her bosom was nearly pressed flush against his chest and their proximity made Sakura's heart race. A cherry sprinkling flew across the pink-haired fifteen-year-old's features.

Sakura meant to leap away from Naruto and their strange, intimate contact. She meant to bounce up and brush herself off and shout at Naruto for how they had ended up. Then their eyes locked together and what she meant to do and what she did do were two entirely different things. She pulled back the hand reaching for the book and ran it through Naruto's blond hair, watching as he blushed in minor embarrassment.

"Sa-Sakura-chan," Naruto stammered, wondering where all the butterflies that used to occupy his stomach had gone. Yes, he was embarrassed, but it wasn't because he was somewhat intimate with a girl he used to have a crush on. No, he was quite positive he no longer cared for Sakura in that fashion. But there was some sort of deeper feeling that he had for the girl in his lap.

It was a similar situation for Sakura. She knew she didn't love him, at least like that. But for some reason, it made _sense_ to be like she was with Naruto. She was his teammate, so she should be close to him, or at least for her own sanity she decided that was how it was.

"Naruto," Sakura smiled at him before wrapping her arms around his chest and relaxing on his lap. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and knew he was surprised by her actions. But, slowly he relaxed the tension from his body when he realized it wasn't a trick. He set the book on the ground and turned them both so Sakura was lying with her back on the ground.

Leaning next to her, Naruto wondered where his crush for her had gone. She was still incredibly beautiful to him, but the butterflies were gone. Determined to bring those butterflies back—he missed them already—he leaned down and kissed her lush pink lips. His first kiss had gone to Sasuke, though it was entirely by accident. This one was fully on purpose, but it didn't bring back the butterflies. It simply confirmed that he was hoping blindly for something that wouldn't return.

But even though there were no butterflies, he found he couldn't stop kissing Sakura. She didn't have any protests or complaints. To her, it just felt _right_. She brought her hands up to wrap around him, pulling him closer. She felt for a moment like time had stopped and only the two of them moved. It was a silly notion, of course. Time couldn't stop, could it? It could only go one way: forward.

Then, almost simultaneously, they asked themselves what they were doing and suddenly their actions felt _wrong_ while only a moment earlier it felt perfect. The two teens flew apart, blushing deep cherry colored and both of them muttered hasty apologies and spoke no more of the issue.

Not entirely sure what to do next—what to say, how to act—they ate a quiet (now cold) lunch of the take-out food. It wasn't that neither of them disliked it, but somehow it seemed like what they had done was taboo. That also seemed like a silly notion, but neither could explain what had transpired so they thought silence would be easier.

It was a good thing they had separated when they did, of course. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino invaded the underside of the bridge just a few minutes later and brought chatter back to the two embarrassed teens.

"Hey, forehead girl!" Ino called as she approached, waving somewhat cheerfully. In her hand was Gama-chan, which totally brought Naruto out of his quiet reverie and he nearly tackled Ino into the river to get Gama-chan back.

"Gama-chan, Gama-chan, Gama-chan!" he sang, attempting to bury his face in the little frog wallet. "Thank you, Ino!" he chirped.

Ino rolled her eyes at her fellow graduate. "You know, you should watch where you put things, Naruto!" Ino scolded him and then everything was right again in the world.

Sakura set her tray beside her and looked at the others, the blush now long gone. "I thought you guys were on a mission?" she inquired curiously.

Shikamaru grumbled, "We're Tsunade-sama's personal delivery service; how troublesome," as he sat down in a spot that would allow him access to cloud-viewing.

"Meh!" Ino sighed as she sat down in the spot beside Sakura (Naruto's vacated seat). "We just had to deliver some medicine to a village. Tsunade-sama was going to have you do it, but of course _Naruto_ had to go get himself community service work!"

Chouji sat near Shikamaru, pulling out a bag of chips. Really, it was a wonder where he kept all his snacks because sometimes it seemed like he pulled them from thin air. "It wasn't so bad a mission," Chouji said between munches. It was almost a mission just to understand him.

Shikamaru clucked his tongue in his usual form of disapproval—what he did when he thought something 'troublesome'. "Naruto, can you plan your next battle in our barn?" he asked the orange (dancing) teen.

"In your barn?" Sakura asked, slightly confused.

Shikamaru shrugged. "I figure if he breaks the place, I won't have to help clean the barn this weekend." He raised his arms, folding them behind his head as he lazily watched the clouds.

"Clean the barn?" Naruto asked before snickering. "You got suckered into doing that again by your mom, didn't you?"

Ino said wisely, "I don't think 'suckered' is the right word. More like…"

Chouji muttered, "Forced…"

"…Kindly requested. Women don't stoop to trickery to get their gains." Ino finished. Sakura nodded her agreement.

Shikamaru snorted in half-amusement. "If you say so, troublesome woman."

Sakura gasped suddenly, as if she just remembered some incredible bit of juicy news that she'd been dying to tell someone. "Oh my goodness, Ino, you'll never believe what happened the other day!" Sakura was already almost laughing.

"If it's about the new training program at the hospital, I already know," Ino said.

"No, no! It's about Kakashi!" Sakura giggled and Naruto found himself grinning. The other three's attention was perked almost instantly and Sakura regaled the tale of how Kakashi had fallen for the old pranks they'd set in his house. All five teenagers were thrown into fits of laughter and the kiss was finally secured in the very darkest corners of Sakura and Naruto's mind.

"Oh, oh!" Naruto laughed, "And Sasuke too! Guess what happened to him!!"

Sakura was thrown into another fit of heavy laughter, tears of mirth springing from her eyes. Naruto was barely able to contain his laughter enough to tell the story about Sasuke and his new job. "And the best part," Naruto finished with all of them laughing themselves silly, "is that when I see Sasuke at night and ask him how work was, he kind of, like _scowls_ in his eyes!"

They all could remember Sasuke's 'eye-scowl' and it only made them laugh harder. Ino and Sakura were beating their fists on the ground in their amusement, Chouji had to stop eating for fear of choking, Naruto was holding his stomach, and Shikamaru was chuckling.

xXx

Sasuke sighed inaudibly as he listened to the laughter on the underside of the bridge from his place on top of it. He couldn't quite hear what they had been talking about, but they seemed so happy. He wondered if there was really a place for him. It was his third day hoping to catch the rest of Team 7, hoping to eat lunch with them and perhaps grovel for forgiveness.

Today was the first time he'd found them there. But now, listening to their laughter he wondered if there truthfully was a place in Konoha that he even belonged. He couldn't go down there; he just couldn't get up the nerve. He was as much a stranger to them as any ordinary other person.

He sighed and walked away from the bridge, deciding from now on to find something productive to do at lunch time—like work? Mariemi always went to lunch so he would be able to work in relative peace and if there was a task he couldn't figure out, he could wait until she got back from lunch and ask then.

But there was a momentary splotch of doubt in his mind. Did he even belong in Konoha? Was there a place for him, or was he just kidding himself with the blind hope?

_Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun,_ he heard Kyuubi whispering in his mind.

"Go away, fox." Sasuke breathed out, but he was still listening. Maybe he was insane for listening to the 'voice' in his head. It wasn't like he had a choice though: it was hard to ignore Kyuubi.

_You have to talk to them some time. You know you do; how will you pay the cute pink-haired girl back if you don't? And the longer you wait, the harder it will be to confront them._ Sasuke had to admit that Kyuubi had a very valid point. But that didn't make it any easier for him.

_Come, I will help you face them._

Sasuke stopped walking and his eyes went to the narrow path that led down to the underside of the bridge. "Why would you _help_ me? Why would you care?" he asked. "What's in it for you?" An elderly lady glanced at Sasuke with an odd look on her face; she probably thought he was insane. And he could very well be.

Kyuubi laughed in a mockery of amusement. _Can't a poor youkai like myself do something out of the goodness of his heart? Does there have to be a benefit for me? Do I need a reason to…care…?_ Sasuke swore he heard the true demon somewhere in that voice.

But he shrugged and made his way down the path. "Are you serious?" he heard Ino laugh, "He actually looked like that?"

"Uh huh!" Naruto laughed. "Sasuke was _terrified_ of Mariemi, I swear it on my status as a shinobi. It's really true!"

Sasuke tried to turn around but found he couldn't move. They were laughing at him. That affected him greatly. Would his return only sponsor being a mere rumor? Did no one care? If even Naruto would laugh at him, what did he have to stay in Konoha for?

_Oh, shush up you big baby,_ Kyuubi ordered. _They're not just talking about you. This is what friends do amongst their peers. They talk about people, laugh at people, and have a good time together. It's something you seem to have never partaken in because of the Uchiha Massacre, because of course everyone else was beneath your notice. It's time you learn that teens are like this, and you're one of them._

Sasuke gulped but opened his ears to listen again to the others.

"Oh!" Ino giggled and suddenly changed the subject, "Naruto, did your 'special someone' like their flower?"

Naruto laughed again but this time it was more of a nervous, embarrassed laugh. Chouji said, "Naruto got someone a flower?"

"Yup!" Ino and Sakura seemed to share a giggle at Naruto's seeming embarrassment.

"Who was it for?" Shikamaru asked, and then he joked, "Girls are so troublesome, Naruto, I'd recommend forgetting the whole thing."

"Haha," Naruto's blush practically was vocalized. Sasuke had the image of Naruto rubbing the back of his neck fluttering in his mind's eye. "Yeah, um, she liked it, I think." He said, sounding guilty and embarrassed simultaneously.

"Naruto's got a girlfriend?" Chouji asked.

That question seemed to bring helpless laughter to the others and Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino all burst into teasing song, "Naruto's got a _girl_friend," over and over.

_You see?_ Kyuubi asked. _It's not just you. It's everyone. Now get going._ Sasuke could have sworn he felt something invisible give him a rough shove and he tripped the rest of the way down the path, falling on his hands and knees and making enough raucous to raise the dead in his descent. _You're so graceful._ Kyuubi snickered.

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**Thanks for the reviews everybody! **regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, ancient-relic (I heard them as I wrote them; what a coincidence!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (More Kagome/Kakashi to come in future chapters), fridge (...aggressive, but apparently effective), Kagome lady of Darkness, feagrif (I feel so weird having to resort to review responses to talk to you! Pakkun the summoned dog is canon), KibaSin (LeGasp! You totally cheated, didn't you? How else would you know the pairing?), supersillee06 (Hehe, Kyuubi's fun), starlitBaby, KuroxTenshi (it's even funnier to me 'cause I know who 'Kakashi' is...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 20 after I posted chapter 21. 

ANSWER: Hm... Hm hm... I'm hungry. But at this point, I suppose I need to make this clear to those who don't already know/realize. This story is NOT a Sakura/Naruto or a Sakura/Sasuke. It is also NOT a Sasuke/Naruto pairing story. I think I scared Canis Black away. I intend to cover several years throughout the course of the story, so it's not going to be clear immediately, and besides that they're still 15 years old and have some growing up and experimentation to do before then. I like to have fun with my stories too, so I'll be picking apart lots of characters. I'm trying to keep most of them in character, but generally speaking, I change my character's personalities to match the story.

_My home is in motion as darkness unfolds the air overloaded disguised and in gold but you went away you left me to stay we see us in heaven I'm counting the days...until you review!!_


	22. Laughing Teens

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter 22: Laughing Teens

For a few excruciatingly long moments, silence fell among the laughing teens and Sasuke wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there for eternity due to the shame and humiliation he felt at that moment. He was half-sprawled out on the ground, his body nearly flat on the ground.

The five teenagers had turned to look at him and were all staring openly at him. He tried to tell himself to get up, or at least to look at them, but he couldn't. All he could do was stare at the ground and pray it would swallow him whole. He would have given anything to disappear at that moment, even risk jail by using chakra, except for some reason his mind was completely blank and he couldn't remember what to do. It was a foreign feeling—this strange confused embarrassment—he most certainly did not like.

And then the moment passed and he could remember how to move as the awkwardly silent teens burst into waves of humored laughter. Chouji was rolling around on the ground, slapping the dirt with a balled fist. Ino and Sakura were leaning heavily on each other, their arms braced around each other in a sort of strange looking sideways-hug as they tried to contain their giggles (which were, apparently, not to be contained). Shikamaru's eyes were watering as he bellowed with laughter instead of his usual chuckling noise.

Naruto was the worst of them all; he laughed so hard he keeled backwards into the three-foot-deep water of the river beneath the bridge. He could practically _feel_ Kyuubi's grin and wished the dumb fox would just leave him alone. It was bad enough he was embarrassed and being laughed at. He didn't also need a fox demon picking fun at him like a voice in his head, making him feel insane.

The moments of laughter didn't exactly fade but once Naruto fell into the river, the attention turned back to Konoha's number one hyperactive ninja and Sasuke was able to regain at least a part of his shredded dignity as he stood up again.

Shikamaru and Chouji managed to halt their laughter long enough to help Naruto out of the river and it wasn't much longer after that when Ino and Sakura settled down, both of them sending warm smiles at Sasuke like they used to, only this time they didn't glare at each other before and after smiling at him. He wondered if they got over their rivalry for his affection, and indeed, wondered if they meant the smile to be encouraging or amused.

Naruto was the last to finally calm down but he was unable to remove the grin from his face. "Sasuke," he said and saluted the Sharingan user with a wet arm. Then with a laugh, Naruto boasted, "Sakura-chan, you owe me twenty bucks!"

A look of confusion must have passed over Sasuke's face because Sakura explained with a giggle, "When he told me about your job, we bet on how long it would take you to leave work for lunch instead of working straight through."

'They're betting on me now?' Sasuke thought in wild confusion.

_Teens do that._ Kyuubi affirmed.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun," Ino chirped, scooting over and patting the now open spot between her and Sakura. "Join us!"

He hesitated and then looked at the standard military issue watch on his wrist. He'd just gotten it recently. "I can't," he told the girl and found that she looked disappointed. What had he done to make her that way?

_Don't just leave it at that,_ Kyuubi warned him. _They'll think you think you're better than them and that they're not worthy of your company. Teenagers have a remarkable talent for misunderstanding. _Kyuubi seemed to sense the question boiling in Sasuke at that moment. _Reassure them that you would, but today you have a time constraint. _

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak Kyuubi's words, but Naruto said wisely, "Sasuke can't," as he too peered at his—thankfully—waterproof watch. Ino turned to peer at Naruto. "He only gets an hour lunch and its almost one now."

_Huh,_ Kyuubi breathed in mock surprise. _You can see me again, Naruto, can't you?_ A slight furrowing of Naruto's brow was the only sign that he'd heard Kyuubi. Otherwise the boy did not move to respond to that question.

"Oh!" Ino looked brighter. "Well, then come visit us later! We're going to training ground six to practice together. You should join us!"

_Dumb blonde._ Kyuubi snorted.

"Uh, Ino," Naruto scratched the back of his neck, "if he goes by the training grounds he'll be in violation of his parole. I don't really want to have to turn him in." Of course, Naruto was still vaguely unaware that Sasuke's every move was _already _being tracked so he didn't have to report where he was at all times. Ino sighed, defeated. "Sasuke, why not join us here tomorrow for lunch?" Naruto was throwing ideas out there now too. It was an infectious habit, he supposed.

Sasuke slowly nodded his agreement to the plan and—with as much dignity as he could muster—turned and proceeded away silently. Only when he reached the sanctuary provided by Stienem's did he finally let the tension relax from his body. He glanced at his hands; they were bloody because his nails had pierced the skin but he hadn't felt it.

Was that what it was like in the presence of so many, with him as the center of attention and everyone laughing at him? How could Naruto live like that? His body was shaking with fearful apprehension toward what _tomorrow_ would bring, but somehow he had never felt so very alive that it was most frightening.

xXx

Again his feet found their way through the waterlogged corridors, only this time he was a lot faster because his feet remembered the way to go. By all accounts, he should be at home in bed because his father was going to wake him up early in the morning to help clean barn.

His mother thought he was in bed. He had snuck out through his window and propped his blankets up with pillows so it looked like someone was still in the room if anyone were to poke their head in. It wouldn't fall under close scrutiny but anyone glancing at the bed in only the light from the hall would think a fifteen-year-old slept under the covers.

The time was well after midnight. All those except late-night workers and the night watch would be asleep. Even late-night party-goers would have gone home and curled up. But not the heir to the Nara clan. Shikamaru wasn't sure why he kept coming to this place, but something continued to draw him here. It was that elusive _thing_ that made him feel as though there was something totally wrong with the way things were.

Again he stopped ten feet in front of the tall metal gate and those red eyes shifted toward Shikamaru as feet were dragged through the water on the floor and then that strange humanoid face came into view, part of it cast into shadow from the flickering glow of the torches.

"Shikamaru, I didn't expect you back," Kyuubi grinned mischievously. "You want to hear more about my mate, eh?"

Shikamaru frowned, not really knowing what he wanted here because he didn't really have a clue why he came. He shifted from one foot to the other and then asked, "Why did you do it?"

Kyuubi didn't need further prompting to know what Shikamaru was talking about and the young shinobi saw first hand that the question pained the fox. The look of abuse on Kyuubi's face was almost frightening. "You're a shadow-user right?" the fox asked, looking distantly at a torch flame.

"…Yes…" Shikamaru responded slowly.

Kyuubi sighed softly. "What happened then was sort of like the shadow technique you use, only worse. I never saw it coming." He ran a hand through his soggy mane.

"But why?" Shikamaru begged to know. "If you're as powerful as they say, then why couldn't you break a shadow technique? Why did everyone have to die? You killed my three older brothers!" Shikamaru didn't know what made him suddenly burst out like that. He never talked about his brothers mostly because he never really knew them. Two of them had died instantly, according to Shikamaru's parents, so they never felt pain at passing. The third one remained on life support for eight years and in a coma before they had to cut the cord. He supposed he was a little bitter that he could have had siblings but they were taken from him.

Kyuubi didn't answer for a long moment before he reached out with one arm, extending it beyond the bars and toward Shikamaru. His finger curled in beckoning and Shikamaru was torn between going to the creature and running away and never coming back. Seeing Shikamaru's hesitation, Kyuubi said, "Relax, boy, I won't harm you."

"Why should I believe you?" Shikamaru asked.

Kyuubi barked with sad laughter. "Mortals may not have a sense of honor in their spoken vows, but a youkai with no honor is nothing at all." Shikamaru watched Kyuubi warily even as something inside him wanted to trust the fox. He couldn't explain it, but somehow he knew Kyuubi was not lying.

Moving forward, Shikamaru stopped just barely out of Kyuubi's reach. Kyuubi rolled his eyes. "You'll have to come closer than that, boy. I don't see well in the dark and as you can tell, it's fairly dark even with the torches."

Shikamaru couldn't help but gulp down a nervous lump, though it was possible Kyuubi knew Shikamaru was afraid without even trying. After all, the fox could speak into Shikamaru's mind without seeming to make any effort, who was to say he could not smell fear as well? He inched forward—centimeters at a time—until he was within reach of Kyuubi's hand.

When the fifteen-year-old felt the cold, wet hand touch his skin he nearly fainted. 'Why am I even here?' he demanded of himself. He was the one who had urged the others to leave, so why was he continuously returning to this place? What was it about Kyuubi that the laziest person in Konoha would get off his bottom and search answers for his curiosity? A thought struck him as Kyuubi's thumbs traced Shikamaru's cheekbones, almost as if envisioning the shape.

"If you can't see in the dark, how did you know Naruto was here?"

Kyuubi's hands continued to trace the outline of Shikamaru's features but at least he did answer. "He smells like me," Kyuubi told the boy. Finally the fox pulled his hands away and true to his word, Shikamaru was not harmed. He was slightly shaken up over the fact that a demon was just touching his face but he couldn't really complain since he willingly submitted to it. "You're a Nara boy, aren't you?" Kyuubi asked.

Shikamaru nodded the affirmative. "Yes, I am."

"Your brothers would have been three, five, and eleven. Chosa, Min, and Lin. My Summoner came from the Nara clan. Tsuke would have been your Aunt." Shikamaru knew his surprise showed quite blatantly on his features but wondered if Kyuubi could see that. "Tsuke married into the Vite clan shortly after returning to Konoha from the Yobidasu, and she was widowed soon after the wedding. She did not return to the Nara family because of old, broken bonds and many years later she met the mortal who imprisoned me here."

"You mean Naruto's father? He _is_ Naruto's father, right?" Shikamaru asked.

Kyuubi grinned, "I don't know, you tell me."

Shikamaru frowned. "I think he is. I mean, the Fourth's last name was Uzumaki, and how many Uzumaki's could there be? And Naruto kind of looks like the Fourth's stone face." It then dawned on Shikamaru what the implications were to what Kyuubi was saying. "Then that means I'm related to that blond idiot?"

Kyuubi burst into gails of deep-throated laughter that echoed off the walls and the water noisily, sounding almost like howling ghosts and sending shivers up and down Shikamaru's body. Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, Kyuubi said, "Run that one by your father. It'd be funny as all hell."

Shikamaru watched as Kyuubi continued laughing even as he made his way to the back of the cage. Sensing he would get no more out of Kyuubi, Shikamaru trudged his way to the exit he had memorized the location of after so many visits. He was even more troubled by his thoughts than before.

If it were true and Naruto was related to the Nara family, then why didn't they take him in when he was a child? Everyone knew Naruto lived alone with no parents to take care of him. The Nara family probably tolerated Naruto far better than any other family. Shikamaru's mother worked a part-time job as a seamstress and always adjusted the bill to half-cost, paying the extra herself, for all of Naruto's orders. Shikamaru's father used to invite Naruto, Chouji, and Kiba over for dinner too if they got caught skipping school. Sure, the old man would lecture them all for ten minutes before he got lazy and dropped the subject, but Naruto was never excluded or put out by the Nara family despite the whole "Kyuubi" thing.

So, then why? Why did Naruto grow up alone when, according to Kyuubi, Naruto was Shikamaru's cousin? Why didn't anything make sense anymore? And why did so many of the questions surround and evolve from Naruto's life?

Shikamaru had just pulled himself back into his bedroom through his window and was unbuttoning his pants when his mother opened the door to his bedroom and poked her head inside. "Ah, darling," she said with a warm morning smile. He gazed sleepily at her. "You're up early." A glance at his clock made him want to puke; 7:01 AM. Had he really spent that much time with Kyuubi? Well, travel time did probably account for most of it.

"Just getting dressed, ma," he sighed and buttoned his pants back up. They had dried on the walk back. He got a new pair of socks from his dresser and pulled a tee-shirt on his bare torso.

"Wonderful." His mother smiled. "Your father's been up for two hours already cleaning the barn. Hurry up and come down for breakfast so you can go help him."

"Yes, ma," he agreed and wondered how long it would take him to fall asleep in a pile of manure.

xXx

Naruto blanched at his breakfast. "What the hell _is_ this?" he asked Iruka, poking the blobby thing. He swore it shied away from his chopsticks. Iruka had gotten Sasuke and Naruto to agree to a breakfast in the dormhouse that morning, since Iruka and Sasuke didn't have to work until eight and Naruto didn't have to report until at least nine AM (or more accurately, eleven AM where Kakashi was concerned).

However, both teenagers were regretting their decision to join the older man. As Iruka ate the glop, he said, "Don't play with your food, Naruto. It's good. It has eggs, creamed wheat, mandarin slices, apple chunks, cheese, ham, and potatoes, and a few other healthy ingredients that will help you get through your day."

Sasuke muttered, "It looks like cat vomit," and was rewarded with his neighbor choking on their milk. They were in Iruka's dormhouse cafeteria. It was a very large room filled with tables, and those tables were filled with teachers. It seemed that Sasuke's comment made his benchmate lose his appetite, when he got up and dumped his tray.

Naruto poked the item on his plate again and once more it seemed to move away from his chopsticks even before they could touch it. "Is it _alive_?" Naruto asked incredulously, poking the thingy again. It was shaped like a bunch of mini omelets with a nasty gray filling. Naruto knew he would never look at eggs the same way.

"No," Iruka rolled his eyes and then saw that Sasuke had picked up one of his mini omelets with his chopsticks and was peering at it with caution similar to that which a mouse would give a cat sleeping in front of a tasty brick of cheese. "It's not going to bite you, Sasuke," Iruka said.

Sasuke was startled out of his contemplation and the mini omelet dropped from his chopsticks, bouncing off the other omelets on his tray, then dropping to the floor. Sasuke and Naruto watched in a sort of morbid fascination as the omelet bounced off the floor and ricocheted off the wall behind them, zooming across the cafeteria, bouncing on table after table until it managed to hit a wall and came back at them. If Iruka hadn't ducked, he would have had a facefull. Instead, the omelet went out the window behind him.

Sasuke and Naruto shared a strange look. "Explain that, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said.

Iruka shrugged as if that sort of thing happened every day. "Shinobi don't complain about their food, Naruto!" he told the boy. "Now, eat." He picked up another omelet and began munching on it. Naruto almost swore he heard the little piece of food screaming in agony as it was chewed to bits.

Uncertainly, Naruto picked up one of the blobby, gray-filled omelet thingies. He winced at the thought of eating it. He swore the little creature was wiggling to get away, not noticing his hand was shaking with uncertainty. "If it doesn't kill you, I'll eat it," Sasuke told Naruto.

"Thanks for making me the guinea." Naruto muttered.

"Anytime." Sasuke shrugged.

Naruto frowned at the omelet, almost hoping that by looking at it he could make it disappear into thin air. When an eternity passed, Iruka got annoyed and shoved one of his own omelets into the mouth belonging to the boy directly across the table. Sasuke watched Naruto pale and for a minute, Naruto turned green.

"Spit that out and I'm going to kick your ass," Iruka growled. Naruto had no doubt the Chunin would do it too. Iruka was a force to be reckoned with when he was angry. Naruto almost choked as he bit into the thing in his mouth and the gloopy gray filling burst into the back of his throat. He could feel it crawling down his throat and wondered if it would suffocate him as revenge. He was surprised when the taste hit his tongue; it was really good. He could taste the fruits and vegetables and meat almost like a bursting sensation, one right after another.

He swallowed and looked at the things on his tray. "Zero on presentation points," Naruto said before grinning and eating another omelet. Once that was gone, he glanced at Sasuke. "It's edible, and I'm alive."

Sasuke raised one eyebrow and asked, "Are you completely positive?"

Naruto checked himself over before grinning. "Yup!" He watched Sasuke eat the omelet, but Sasuke did _not_ enjoy it. He managed to choke one down, but he looked positively green.

"That is the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten," Sasuke said, pushing the plate away. "That includes the time you frosted a glop of muddy sand on my birthday."

Naruto cackled in amusement. "I still can't believe you _ate_ it." Whether he was talking about the omelet or the muddy sand cake, Sasuke was not sure. It wasn't long after that when the three took their trays to the cleaners. Naruto and Sasuke parted ways from Iruka and made their way to S-District.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, Sasuke asked, "Why come this way if you need to be in the Academy district at nine?"

Naruto shrugged. "I wanted to talk to you."

When Naruto didn't continue, Sasuke shoved his hands in the pockets of his new work slacks. He'd gotten them when he found that he would have to otherwise wear Naruto's formal clothing every day and orange simply wasn't a color he was fond of wearing. The slacks he wore were black, and he wore a white dress shirt over a white tee-shirt and black dress-shoes instead of Naruto's split-toe sandals.

They'd already made it to S-District by the time Naruto started talking. "Tomorrow's Saturday. You won't have to go to work tomorrow or Sunday, but you have to stop in L-District at a shop called Freya's after work today to get fitted for your Sunday clothes. The ladies there know you're coming." Sasuke didn't ask why he was going. Naruto had said he was going to take Sasuke to church on Sundays and that would probably be the hardest thing for Sasuke because he didn't believe in the Gods. "Get there as soon as you can."

Sasuke nodded. "I will," he agreed.

Naruto sighed and stopped in front of Stienem's building. "If you do decide to come to lunch under the bridge, don't do anything to upset Sakura. You don't have to come if you don't want to. The Gods only know why you're still sticking around, but Sakura's hurting enough without added stress." Naruto gave Sasuke a very small smile. "This week was pretty hectic, but next week we'll get a Realty Paper and find a place to live, and after that, we'll go from there."

Sasuke held back a grimace; that smile was forced. "You haven't forgiven me yet, have you?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged. "You haven't stopped being afraid of me yet, have you?" was his response. Sasuke understood perfectly and felt guilty. "You're looking for me to forgive you, but I already told you. I don't forgive dead people. Get a life and then ask." With those words, Naruto turned and walked steadily away from Sasuke.

The boy puzzled over Naruto's words. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the things Naruto said had a meaning so obvious a newborn could understand them. Naruto was a fairly straightforward kind of guy. For the most part, he kept his heart out in the open for anyone to see.

But that one percent of the time, Naruto was about as clear as an opal. He continued to puzzle over this as he went into Stienem's and Mariemi chirped off a list of what they would be doing all day.

"Oooh, Sas-chan," Mariemi said suddenly jerking him out of his thoughts. "Tonight, you have to be here at nine!"

He blinked at the excitable woman and couldn't help asking, "What for?"

She winked mysteriously at him. "Work, of course!" Somehow he got a feeling of foreboding when he saw that wink. Sure, the woman was really good looking, and her voice wasn't incredibly whiny like most fan-girl's voices, but this feeling of instinct was much similar to the feeling he used to get when he was sure a gaggle of giggling girls was about to jump at him from behind some random obstacle—and that feeling was never proved wrong, because they **always** jumped out.

"Oh, okay," he told her, wondering if he would regret ignoring that feeling. Would it be violation of his parole to _not_ go to work, just once?

"Oooh," she squeaked as she filed a few pieces of paper in her desk. "And wear these!" she took a box from beneath her desk and handed it to him. He blinked at the pink wrapping paper and knew he would for sure be regretting his decision to ignore that feeling. She got impatient waiting for him and ripped the paper off, opening the box to pull out a blue satin long-sleeve, button up dress shirt. Beneath that was a pair of dark navy khaki shorts with several pockets. He checked the size of the shorts and frowned.

"How the hell do you know what size pants I wear, Mariemi?" he demanded, glaring at her with his black eyes narrowed in 'I'll-Kill-You-With-My-Eyes' mode. The brunette seemed completely unaffected and he found it a terrible shame that he couldn't use his Sharingan. With that, he might have been more successful.

"Oh puh-lease!" she said, flipping her curly brown hair over her shoulder as though mildly offended. "I'm a woman," she told him as if that explained everything. She shook the satin shirt with a quick snap of her wrists and pursed her cherry lips. "Oh, you're going to look so hot in this, I can't wait to see it! There are shoes on your desk chair too."

He stepped over to his desk and pulled the chair out, finding a shoe box sitting there, next to a multi-pack bag of ankle-cut socks and a pair of black boxers. With horror, he looked at the size of the boxers and demanded, "How the fuck do you know what size boxers I wear?!" She might have guessed on the pants, since he usually wore them a little bigger, but to know the perfect fit of his boxers? There was no way she guessed that.

She giggled secretively. "Nine o'clock, meet me here." Was there something he was missing? Some crucial detail? He resolved to ask Naruto at lunch time.

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews everybody! **nightshadow04 (actually, I accidentally came to like Sasuke/Naruto pairings, but I have a problem too, since they annoy me...so I'll be writing a parody soon!), disneyrulz23 (can't tell you what the pairings are, sorry!), Canis Black (Haha I guess it'll take more than that to get rid of ya! Whee! I have a guy reading this story, amazing! -completely fangirl mode- Mariemi is cool!), Hiei's Cute Girl (many Saku/Naru moments to come in future chapters, oh and I'm going to have a grand ol' time!), Dark Inu Fan (I wonder...), regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan, supersillee06 (do you want me to 'review' or 'update'? Haha, I got a kick out of that typo.), KibaSin (I shall dub thee, a Miroku-Wanna-Be), wanderingwarrior, kunoihiKagi, Kagome Lady of Darkness, KuroxTenshi, StarlitBaby, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I will evilly keep the main pairing from you), Forgotten Lake (I updated a couple other stories at least...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 21 after I posted chapter 22. 

ANSWER: **Wow!** We hit record that last chapter, with fifteen reviews for only one chapter! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, but at least I got a couple of my other stories updated! Eh, hehe... And um... started two more that aren't posted... but you didn't hear that. I can't afford to be murdered right now. Too many bills to pay.

_Build me a bridge, burn me a fire, put something in my empty hands... like a review?_


	23. Maelstrom Training

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

* * *

Chapter 23: Maelstrom Training

Eleven o'clock rolled around with Sakura and Naruto waiting for Kakashi as usual. Today while they waited, Naruto was losing at a game of Red Knuckles. She hit his knuckles every time, and he was always too slow to hit her. He really was trying, but she was very good at the game and telling exactly when he was going to move. He was still trying to figure out how to tell when her hands would move.

When the familiar 'pop' noise came, Kakashi showed up, quite de-orangified and no longer purple. There were places where his hair was tinged a soft yellow, almost like he'd rolled in a field of dandelions. Sakura and Naruto whirled on their teacher. Every day since he'd hit the pranks, he'd been even later than eleven, but they couldn't stop laughing to accuse him of being late.

Today, though the memory made them smile, they were ready to shout. "You're late!" the teens shouted. Worry flashed through Kakashi's eyes and he looked at his watch. They blinked at each other, confused by his strange behavior.

"It's eleven-hundred hours and one minute. I guess I am late. My apologies." Kakashi said and his black eye curled upward in a smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

The two teens were wondering where the usual lame excuse was.

I was helping a squirrel cross the road. (Kakashi was allergic to squirrels.)

I was carrying an old lady's groceries. (Old ladies disliked perverted Kakashi.)

I was pulling the weeds from my neighbor's garden. (Usually said in the wintertime.)

Stunned by this strange new Kakashi, the teens wondered what aliens would be mad enough to kidnap their teacher. "Uh," Sakura said intelligently, "Apology accepted?" She sounded incredibly uncertain.

"Wonderful! We shall then be on our way to see Hokage-sama as we usually do. Will we meet up on Saturday?"

Naruto and Sakura looked at Kakashi almost as though he _was_ an alien. "Did you get knocked on the head, Kakashi-sensei?" he asked his teacher.

"No, why?"

"You're acting, uhm," Sakura began, and Naruto finished for her.

"Really, _really_ weird."

"Yeah. We always meet on Saturdays." Sakura added.

Kakashi quickly said, "I know that! Of course I know that. I just thought maybe we _wouldn't_ meet up _this_ Saturday. You know, just thought, you might want to er, meet with your friends."

The teens shared a knowing look. Kakashi was hiding something. Something he didn't want them to know. The two practically read each other's thoughts and said in unison, "We don't have to meet!"

Naruto added, "Let's go see if we have any missions today!" They didn't want Kakashi to change his mind. They both had full intentions of following Kakashi and finding out what he was hiding but this time they would have to be sneakier than when they tried to find out what was under Kakashi's mask.

Kakashi looked relieved for some reason and led the way to Hokage tower. The two teens walked several feet behind Kakashi, and kept their voices low as they walked through the crowded mid-morning streets toward their destination. "What do you think is up with Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked Sakura.

"I don't know," Sakura replied, confusion etched into her features. "But he looks different today… I wonder what it could be."

"He looks the same to me," Naruto said, squinting at their teacher's back. Indeed, other than the slight yellowing to Kakashi's silver hair, nothing about his outward appearance seemed different.

"No, silly, not like his features or anything, but look at him. Oh I know, he's not slouching as much." She giggled. "And he's not reading his pervert book while he walks! He didn't even have it as he appeared. I bet you he has a girlfriend!"

"Where are you getting this from?" Naruto demanded softly. So their teacher wasn't slouching and didn't have a book. How did that equate to Kakashi having a girlfriend? Kakashi was the number one most sought after bachelor ninja in Konoha, quite literally, because it seemed all the girls his age knew what he looked like and to find a single woman Kakashi's age who _didn't_ have the hots for Kakashi was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Oh, please, Naruto," Sakura said, snorting lightly in discontent. "I'm a woman, I have to know these things. Plus, he's _never_ let us have a Saturday off. Remember when my pet bird died? He wouldn't even let us take the Saturday off. So obviously that makes it a really dry excuse suggesting he might let us have the Saturday off simply to visit with friends."

It made sense when she put it that way. "So, he must have plans!" Naruto agreed. "We'll just have to follow him."

Sakura grinned. "And when we catch him with his girlfriend, we'll jump out and accuse him of ditching his students for a girl."

Naruto glanced at his teacher's back again. His teacher was totally oblivious to the two conspiring teen's conversation. He might have excellent hearing, but they knew how far to be from him in a crowd so he couldn't hear—or at least they were _sure_ they knew. "But what does him not having the book have to do with anything? He really likes those books, so I don't think he'd stop reading them. Maybe it's just in his nin-kit?"

Sakura glared at Naruto and he blushed because he knew she thought he had a perverted book in his nin-kit. But he couldn't correct her thoughts without telling what the book really was and he didn't want to. "Only _single_ men read those things."

"Why, though?" Naruto forced his blush away as his curiosity got the better of him. "Why only single men?"

Sakura's face turned red as an apple. He blinked at her, not sure why she was so embarrassed. "Never mind, Naruto!" she yelled, loud enough to attract Kakashi's attention. The girl rushed to walk beside Kakashi, leaving Naruto more curious than ever and walking alone behind the others.

They got to Hokage tower, and Naruto pondered the question in his mind, trying to figure it out. Tsunade dismissed them almost before they even entered her office. She didn't have any missions for them, and there was no community service work for Naruto. Konohamaru was still apparently enough to take care of the community service work.

After that, Kakashi led the way to training ground number thirteen and for the first time in his career teaching them, began with the words, "Let's get to work." He suddenly seemed very strict, and they wondered if they would make it to the bridge to meet the others for lunch. Naruto was glad he'd eaten breakfast.

Kakashi didn't sit down with a book beneath one of the trees and tell them to get to work. Instead he began stretching to warm up his body. Confused by the continued show of new behavior, Sakura and Naruto followed suit.

Once they'd finished their stretches, Kakashi said, "Down to business then. Today we learn chakra control over swiftly moving currents." Both teens were confused. For one thing, they were the only people under Jounin level in training ground thirteen. It wasn't exactly off-limits, per say, but no one under Jounin level dared enter training ground thirteen because it only consisted of a lake that was nothing more than a massive whirlpool.

At that moment, they stood on the edge of the lake, feeling the spray of water from the lake down below them. The lake was down several feet in a quarry and the quarry was sectioned off by a high wire fence so that children didn't accidentally wander there. The gate was electronic and could be opened using a training card that had to be retrieved from Hokage tower.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you sure we're ready for this?" Sakura asked nervously, peering down into the dangerous quarry. No one really knew what made the whirlpool continue going. It wasn't just a small whirlpool like that which could be formed when one let the water out of their tub. This was more like a maelstrom; and it never stopped moving.

Kakashi pulled his vest off and set it to the side, doing the same for his sandals. He removed his nin-gear and advised them to do the same. "You're as ready as you'll ever be." Kakashi told them. "You should be able to control your chakra enough to stand on still water or a moving river. That's all the more prepared you'll get."

Sakura's hands shook visibly as she removed her shoes and her nin-gear. Naruto was as nervous as her, but he was able to forget Kakashi's sudden weirdness with the excitement of learning something new. This would really push him closer to the title of Hokage. A grin beamed across his features as he shed his jacket, shoes and nin-gear.

He walked up to the edge, looking down into that danger zone. "What do we do first, Kakashi-sensei?" he asked. Sakura looked green as she joined Naruto, but she stayed a few steps back from the ledge. Naruto was practically perched on the edge.

"Listen closely." Kakashi said and Naruto and Sakura gave him their full attention. His black eye was more serious than he'd ever been. "If you do this wrong, the water will pull you under. We can't tie you to a lifeline here because if you go under the force of the water will snap you in half. If you slip, don't struggle against the flow of the water. Move with it and you should be able to keep your head above the water until I can pull you out."

"Yes, sir!" they said in unison, though Sakura was considerably less enthused.

"Finally, training worth living for!" Naruto said, whooping in excitement. "Screw that perverted frog hermit and his stupid training!"

Beside him, Sakura muttered, "I've decided you're a madman, Naruto."

"Until I'm sure you can do this, I only want you going in one at a time." Kakashi continued. "Otherwise it is too dangerous. I can't rescue you both and if you both slip, guaranteed one of you will die." Sakura's whole body started shaking. "You will first hang on the ledge, and gather enough chakra beneath your feet to stay on top of the water. Then, drop onto the water. It's tough to do, and you probably won't get it your first time." He handed them both whistles. They weren't on strings.

"What are these for, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Keep those braced between your teeth. You're screwed if you drop it. If you start falling, blow the whistle as hard as you can and try not to swallow the water. Keep your eyes closed under water if you do fall." Kakashi looked at both of them sternly. "Keep in mind that on still water, you won't move, but this is not still water so you have to constantly adjust your chakra to the surface beneath you and keep your feet braced so you stay standing. Understood?"

Sakura nodded weakly, and Naruto pumped his fist in excitement. "I am so ready for this!" Naruto laughed. "Can I go first?"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at Naruto before glancing at Sakura. "I want her to go first." He said and Sakura looked like the world had come to an end. She was really scared and did not think she was ready for this. "I will show you how to do it, so watch closely."

Sakura nodded and turned to watch. Kakashi walked up to the edge and sat down on it. Leaning on his hands, he turned and lowered himself. They had to lean over the edge to watch him drop down. He released the ledge and his feet connected with the water almost as though it were hard ground. He landed in a semi-crouch and stood up, balancing himself as the current took him in a swirling direction away from them, following the circle of the quarry.

He didn't try walking, but instead remained standing and looked almost as though he were riding a spiral conveyor belt. When he was back where they were, he was a foot in front of where he'd landed. He grabbed the rock wall with chakra while simultaneously lifting his feet from the surface of the water. He climbed back up using his hands and pulled himself back on the ledge. He was wet from the spraying mist of the maelstrom.

"Wow!" Naruto grinned. He couldn't wait to try it.

Sakura looked mutely at the water before Kakashi said, "It won't slow down the longer you stare at it. Would you like me to explain one more time?" That was also strange; Kakashi didn't often give repeat tutorials. They had to listen closely the first time or get notes from the others. Sakura didn't question it though, and nodded. Kakashi explained everything carefully one more time and then told Sakura to give it a shot. "If you fall in, I'll pull you out and you'll try again."

Sakura nodded again and carefully tried to imitate Kakashi's actions. She had perfect chakra control when she landed, but didn't calculate for the added conveyor belt like movement so she took a dip under. She lost her whistle and forehead protector immediately, but less than twenty seconds after she fell in, she was being pulled out. She was so shaken from the experience that the minute she was on dry land, she threw up.

Naruto's enthusiasm for the activity died the minute Sakura went under. She didn't remember to blow the whistle. She looked so scared as her back hit the water and she was sucked under almost as though the water were a greedy demon gulping her down. She moved a lot faster under the water than Kakashi had above water.

Kakashi held the girl's short hair as she threw up water and her breakfast. After a few minutes, she stopped and sat hugging her knees, looking vaguely distraught. "I don't want to do it again," she breathed. Naruto wasn't so sure he wanted to do it at all anymore.

Kakashi said, "You will. We are not leaving here today until you both get the hang of it, or the sun sets, which ever comes first." He looked at Naruto. "Keep hold of the whistle, and blow it if you start falling."

Naruto nodded and put the whistle between his teeth, doing exactly what Kakashi had done to get onto the ledge. He dropped down but he didn't have enough chakra to keep him upright and instead he dove feet first into the water. He lost his whistle as well and had no forehead protector to lose.

Under water, he could swear he heard a high pitched whining sound and opened his eyes to try locating that noise. He was surprised the current didn't kill his eyes, but it was like bathing in a clear saline solution. What he saw made him breathe out his air in surprise. He had to cover his mouth to keep from choking on the water. Something was in front of him, staring at him curiously. It looked weird, with long arms and long webbed fingers. Webs formed between long toes and its eyes were completely seaweed green with no whites. Gills flapped beneath its arms, where it would ordinarily have had pits. It had no hair, but strange fin-like appendages came out of its head where it should have ears. It seemed sexless, but human shaped. It was no bigger than a two-year-old. It was disgusting looking, like a skin stretched across a skeleton.

"Uuuuuaaaaa!" it keened, opening a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It did not have a nose, but considering it had gills, it wouldn't need one. Then in a swirl of bubbles and with a speed not previously known to skeletons, it swam away and Naruto felt himself being pulled out of the water and he was put on the ledge. He couldn't figure out how long he'd been down there. It felt like forever and he stared down at the swirling water below him.

What the heck was that thing? Did Sakura see it, he wondered. He was breathless, unable to believe that thing was there. How did it survive down there? What food source could live down there for it to eat?

Sakura was forced to take another turn on the maelstrom and that was how their day went. Both of them kept falling in, but the next time, Naruto made sure not to open his eyes in the water. He kept hearing the strange keening of the creature, but he didn't want to see it again. When the sun began to sink into the western horizon, they made their starved way into the city again and Kakashi bought them ramen at Ichiraku. Despite their hunger, neither of them thought they'd ever be able to eat again, especially after both had vomited no less than ten times that day.

"You did well today, both of you." Kakashi complimented them. They were very pleased and able to eat after that. Kakashi didn't hand out compliments lightly. Of course, Kakashi's compliment wasn't enough to stop them from choking at his next comment. "You'll do even better on Monday."

They vowed silently to thoroughly embarrass Kakashi in front of his girlfriend the next day for signing their death warrants.

xXx

It was almost eight forty-five by the time Naruto got back to Iruka's dorm and he was surprised to find Sasuke wearing clothes he'd never seen before. Naruto had stopped at the storage shed on his way back to change into dry clothes. Somehow even in dry clothes, Naruto was still frozen.

"What are you wearing?" Naruto asked the boy, poking the strange material. It looked like what rich people wore. Indeed, Sasuke wore a lot of that type of fabric as a young boy, but Naruto couldn't remember what it was called.

"Satin," Sasuke grumbled in annoyance. Naruto looked around and found Iruka had either not yet returned or had left again to go somewhere. "Do civilians often work evenings?"

Naruto blinked. "Work evenings?" he repeated, trying to figure out where the question was coming from. "Yeah, second shift works afternoon into the evening, and third shift works late evening into the early morning. Why?"

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his temples. "Mariemi wants me to meet her at Stienem's in fifteen minutes. I really don't feel like going." He plucked at the sleeve of the shirt. "She told me to wear these clothes, she knows what size boxers I wear, and I have reason to believe she's clinically insane."

Naruto grinned. "Well, she might be insane, but that runs in her family you know. She's related to Gai-sensei. Gai-sensei is her older brother."

"But their last names are different," Sasuke said, frowning as he tried to puzzle that one out.

"Gai-sensei had to take his wife's last name since they were part of a clan and the Stienem's are not a clan."

Sasuke's eyes went wide. "That guy is _married_?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't get it myself, but he's been married for almost ten years now. I'm really not sure how you missed that fact. I mean, he goes to Ichiraku with her all the time. His son is an exact copy of him and starts at the academy in August, since he turns five in July." Not aware of Sasuke's confused 'how-is-that-even-possible' look, Naruto slipped his sandals off by the door and moved over to his usual bed space on the floor. "Ino says that Gai-sensei's wife is even pregnant with their second kid."

"Amazing," Sasuke breathed. "I never thought it possible."

Naruto looked at his watch. 8:53 PM. "If you have to work tonight, you should get going or you'll be late," he reminded the other boy. Sasuke shuddered but he moved to put on some new shoes—presumably from Mariemi—and made his way out the door. Naruto pulled his orange blanket from beneath Iruka's bed and wrapped it around himself, curling up on the floor and trying to regain some of the heat he lost to the maelstrom. He was asleep before he could begin counting his sheep.

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**Thanks for the reviews everybody! **nightshadow04 (I'll look for your reviews then?), KibaSin (you want to be like him and you know it), Kagome Lady of Darkness, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Mariemi is in the next chapter!), EagleMaster (tsk, tsk), Forgotten Lake (_TK returns to the cyber mansion to find FL on the floor, unconscious, and the lingering scent of sleep-gas in the air. The kidnapped inhabitants of the cyber mansion are all sprawled out in various places of the living room, equally knocked out, but at least Kakashi was wearing a mask when the attack happened so he remains awake and only sits there reading his pervert book. "What happened here?" TK asks Kakashi and he looks up at her. He casts a confused glance at all the unconscious people before shrugging and returning to the book. TK sometimes does not know how to handle that guy_... I miss talking!), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 22 after I posted chapter 23. 

ANSWER: Several next chapters are done! For this story at least... Please, my beloved reviewers, I need a response to my question: Would you be terribly offended if Kakashi ended up gay in this story? I will not do any moochy scenes about it, but if so, it would be hinted at. However, Kakashi does not have to be paired up. So: Straight, Gay, or Bachelor. How do you like your Copy Cat Ninja? (Note: "Naked on silk sheets" is not an appropriate answer.)

_Hey there I hope everything's alright, I forgot to call you in the wintertime, but I left you a review!!_


	24. Friday Night

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

WE HIT 200 REVIEWS!  
THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE!  
YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT KEEPS ME MOTIVATED!  
SEVERAL MORE CHAPTERS ARE READY!

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Chapter 24: Friday Night

Sasuke blinked at Mariemi as the girl squealed and strode swiftly in his direction. For the most part, the streets were deserted, so he was quite obvious and there were not very many places to hide from the crazy brunette. She latched onto his arm and said, "Ooooh, you look godly in satin! I just knew you'd look good in blue too. Are the shoes comfortable? Doesn't matter, since they look great on you!"

He bit back a groan of misery as she began dragging him down the street. He watched as they walked right past Stienem's office building and was curious if he was being kidnapped or something. He wouldn't put it past the crazy woman. Despite his misery, he looked at his boss-lady. She wasn't dressed for work. She wore insane heels that he thought must be killing her feet, and she showed enough leg to reveal very toned flesh.

She had dressed herself in satin as well. Her skirt was revealing, with slits up both sides and quite clearly incredibly skimpy underwear beneath that tiny fabric. Her blouse was tight, collared, and sleeveless, revealing toned abs, a large bust (unbuttoned enough to see more than enough of her chest and that her bra was lacy), and firm back muscles straight through the fabric. Her arms, though small, were no less capable.

She had pulled her curls back in a simple barrette at the back of her head to keep them out of her face, but the rest hung down her back and spilled over her shoulders. Earlier that day she had been wearing glasses but now she wore her contacts and indeed was a healthy, capable rival for anyone daring to challenge her fan-girl-ness.

And he was being leeched. She dragged him halfway across the city to a building with a brightly lit sign saying "The Rave". He assumed it was their destination as she dragged him into the building, walking past hundreds of others waiting in a line. If he didn't have such good control over his features, he knew he would have had a look of fear on his face. Hundreds of civilian males were eying him much like murderers do their victims. Equally, hundreds of females were eying him like a piece of meat similar to a starved dog amongst several others when only an ounce of steak was thrown to them.

And the line of people extended all the way around the block, and they walked right past every single person in the line. He gulped. Somehow he felt this wasn't work-related.

Once they were inside, Sasuke found the place to be filled and still filling with people. Noise he assumed they called music was blaring from everywhere and people were dancing and screaming and apparently having fun as lights flashed enough to give an eighty-year-old a heart attack. Mariemi giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. He was still taller than her by two inches despite the shoes (were those six inch heels?) she wore.

She pulled her cherry lips up to his ear so he could hear her, "Tonight, you have two options. Dance with me, or be a lump and suffer until dawn. One song. That's all I ask, and we can go." He felt her lightly bite his earlobe and was both amazed and horrified by the strange feelings that action caused him. It made his whole body tingle; he had to force himself not to shiver. She whispered, "And don't think of leaving me here. Daddy will fire you if you do, and you'll go to jail, won't you my little probation shinobi?" Her laugh was mischievous but something inside him found it different than the squealy-snorts of the normal fan-girls.

She pulled away from him, a mysterious smile on her face as she backed off. She wasn't an ordinary fan-girl was she? No other fan-girl he'd ever known had backed off willingly. Sometimes they had to be pried off with crowbars. She shifted her hips suggestively, licking those pouty red lips of hers before turning and making her way into the throng of screaming, gyrating, dancing freaks.

He wasn't sure if she was right about the whole 'going to jail' part, but he knew by now not to disbelieve her when it came to her father. If she said her father would do something, then no force on the planet could keep that thing from being done. So, he was at a severe loss. Risk jail and leave this place, also losing his job, or stay and quite obviously he would suffer all night because he sure as hell wasn't going to drag his ass out onto that dance floor.

This was clearly something civilians did because there were many people there. People were glancing at him as they walked by. Now that he wasn't beside Mariemi, the only stares he got were the meat-in-ravenous-dog-kennel kind, and obviously there were plenty of single women there.

He managed to find a corner to stay in, out of the way, but the women found him there and before he knew it, he really was the meat in the kennel, and the ravenous bitches were circling him.

One of them moved up to him. None of the women he saw were at all bad to look at. They didn't wear a lot, but they weren't ugly. The place smelled like sweat, alcohol, and a mixture of many perfumes and colognes. In the random colored lighting of the dance floor, sweat glistened off of men and women alike, despite it was obviously early in the evening.

"Hi," the woman smiled at Sasuke, handing him a mug of what he assumed was rancid stomach acid, but was apparently a strong alcoholic substance. Just smelling it would probably kill brain cells so he simply held it for lack of a better thing to do with it.

"Hi," he said in return, lacing as much ice in his voice as possible. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do because she seemed to think he was playing hard-to-get and she inched closer, pressing her arms into her sides so her bosom pushed closer and created more cleavage.

"I've never seen your handsome face here before," she called over the noise. He shrugged in response, and she continued. "I come here a lot. They've got great drinks! Do you dance?"

"No," he told her honestly.

"Why not?" she inquired.

He figured honesty would get her to leave him alone, because she looked like the type who wasn't going to make an effort if she didn't have to. "I don't know how." He told her. She latched onto him so fast he dropped the brain-peeling drink but before he could hear the glass shatter, he was on the dance floor and the woman was teaching him the ins-and-outs of dancing to the fast-paced electronic music playing.

He had never felt so embarrassed in his whole life—not even when he landed face first among all his peers. Her body pressed into his and every time he tried to move away, she moved with him so escape (without using any shinobi talent he could think of) was not an option. Within moments, women were fighting over him, not like shinobi fan-girls who at least **really** fought and shed blood, but these women didn't mind sharing and then he had no less than six girls with their hands on him, rubbing against him, and he saw no escape.

He really worked up a great sweat trying to get away and it was a struggle to keep the horror from his features. How did Mariemi drag him here anyway? How did he get himself into this? He would _never_ run away again, but please, any God listening, he begged to save him just this once. If it happened, he would be a devoted worshipper for the rest of his life, but none of them came to his calling.

According to his watch, an hour and a half passed before he came to realize the girls would probably hound him all night long if he didn't do something. He remembered the drink and whispered into one girl's ear as she moaned for some reason, "I'm thirsty, can we get a drink?"

She shivered as though his voice did to her what Mariemi's voice had done to him earlier. Instantly he was being dragged away from the bunch of other girls toward a bar. He was partly relieved. He went from six leeches to one, which was a major accomplishment on his part. The girl let him go and turned to order a drink. In the time it took her to talk to the bartender, he was gone, and he found a secluded, _dark_ corner to try passing the time in.

Instead, girls flocked to him once more. This time it was a whole new bunch. Again the women were pretty, but nearer to being unclothed than he thought pertinent. Why would they dress that way? What if they caught a cold? Of course in the heat provided in the building the more likely thing they'd do would be to overheat and pass out from dehydration.

But what was wrong with these people?

"Hi," a woman breathed in his ear, startling him out of his reverie. It took all his self-control not to jump out of his skin and to keep his face calm, but his heart pounded against his ribcage hard enough to break bones. If he could feel pain, he probably wouldn't like the feeling.

"Hello," he greeted her, narrowing his eyes at her with his patented 'I'll-kill-you-if-you-touch-me' look. She was unaffected. What was it with civilians and their disregard for dangerous looks? She boldly reached out and ran a hand along his arm from shoulder to wrist.

"Oh, is that satin?" she asked him.

He saw no reason to try lying since she already knew. "Yes, it is." He told her.

"Oh, I just love the way satin feels against my body." She teased him.

What was with this woman? Why did she keep rubbing his arm like it was her own? "Then perhaps you should think of investing in some?" he suggested and she giggled. Apparently he should not have said that because the next thing he knew he no longer had a dark and secluded corner. Instead he had a manifestation of leeches crowding around him. It took him the next two hours to get rid of them and make his way back to the corner because every time he got rid of one, another would come and replace it.

A new batch of women came to him and the whole process repeated itself. Finally he resigned himself to fate. Mariemi was right, he would suffer all night; worse still, he couldn't see her anywhere to go give her that stupid dance she wanted. She probably planned it that way all along. She probably even left him there to rot, and he couldn't leave not knowing if she was there or not because he couldn't risk being fired. Oh, he was really paying dearly for running away.

His watch read four thirty AM eventually and he found himself exhausted and for some reason he felt sore even though that was illogical since he couldn't feel pain. Or, could he? Did his feel for pain return? He pinched himself and found that it had not; the sore was more mental than anything.

He saw Mariemi finally and skirted a new crowd of women, stopping in front of the highly amused fan-girl. She sat at the bar, peacefully sipping a drink. She offered it to him. He took it, hoping it was alcohol (and that he would have no recollection of this in the morning), and downed it. Sadly it was only bubbly soda.

"You seem disturbed," Mariemi teased. Sasuke wanted to know how this psychotic woman was related to Gai, since that man could never come up with such a devious plot, surely! She plucked the empty glass from his hand and he panted slightly, needing oxygen before he passed out from lack of air.

"I want to leave!" he told her.

She hooked a finger in his belt and pulled him closer to her, grinning. She whispered low in his ear, "Oh, do you?" she asked him. "Then I ask you, can you dance? Because if I can't enjoy my dance, I don't want it. Have the other women given you enough lessons? Only an hour and a half until dawn."

She was evil incarnate, he decided as he watched her slip away into the crowd. But he wouldn't let the woman get the best of him. He closed his eyes and opened the Sharingan. The room was too dark for anyone to know he was using it anyway, and none of these civilians would realize what he was doing anyway so there was no way his using it would get back to people who could cause him trouble.

He watched the crowd, absorbing every move they made, memorizing them. If her enjoying a dance was what it took to get out of the insane room, then that was what he would do. If the civilian Gods didn't care what happened to a shinobi-turned-civilian, then he would have to take matters into his own hands.

Blinking, he closed the Sharingan and moved into the crowd, weaving past groups of people with determination in his step. He found Mariemi dancing with a buff man more her age. In an instant, he knew he could easily kill that man despite his muscular build. That was more beside the point though, and upon seeing the scar-boy with a glare in his eye, the man backed down.

Mariemi licked her lips and grinned. "Had enough?" she asked and he nodded. "Then show me what you got," she told him. "I know from work that you're a quick study. If you're half as good as I want you to be, we'll talk about raising your pay."

He didn't care about raising his pay. All he wanted was out! He advanced on the slender woman, shifting his hips against hers, moving his body to the beat like others around him. Mariemi didn't appear to have any complaints for anything he did, and indeed she appeared to enjoy herself.

He was surprised when he also started to enjoy himself. Once he knew what to do, he felt less like a lump and more comfortable, and women didn't seem to congregate to him once he focused on just one woman: Mariemi.

She laughed at him as they left—at dawn. "You enjoyed it in there," she giggled, clinging to his arm in the early morning.

"I did not," he lied. No matter what he did or did not, he didn't want any one of his peers ever to know about what just occurred. Yes, he was embarrassed to have enjoyed himself. Very little gave him pleasure, or joy. Most of his life was filled with fear. Fear of being beat by his father. Fear of doing something wrong. Fear of not living up to the example of his brother. Fear of being killed by his brother. Fear of losing himself in pain. Fear of being alone.

Mariemi sighed happily and leaned on him. "You totally did," she told him. "Come on. You can walk me home." She turned them down an alley and several minutes later she hugged him in front of a large gate, her eyes still amused. "See you Monday, Sas-chan." She told him. "You totally rank a ten on the hot-scale. You need a raise, for sure. I'll make it happen."

She left him there and he headed back to the Academy district. His intent was to go to Iruka's dorm and pass out until the world ended but that didn't happen since he saw a familiar figure leaning on the rail of the bridge in the gray morning gloom.

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**I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing at this chapter. Sasuke, in a techno dance type club totally cracks me up. Thanks for the reviews! **Canis Black (That creature is nasty looking in my head), EagleMaster (have fun gaming!), KibaSin (I love it too! Good thing, since I'm the one doing it), Kagome Lady of Darkness, Forgotten Lake (_TK returns to the cyber mansion and finds Kakashi missing, then proceeds to call up the bounty hunters. "We have a runaway, I repeat, one of my slaves has run away. Permission to use force, if necessary, but do not harm the slave. If you harm the slave, I will have to maim you violently."_ Ahh! This is maddening.), Okashii Saru (Hehe, can't tell you pairings), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I'm a cruel author, dangling the pairings right in front of your nose...), KuroxTenshi, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 23 after I posted chapter 24. 

ANSWER: Eh, I'm lazy so I guess (for now) Kakashi will just stay a bachelor. If you really want him to be paired up, go ahead and mention it in a review. Besides... Fuyumi gives Kakashi enough problems, according to chapter 26. Chapter 25 spoiler (don't read if you don't want to): Sasuke meets someone familiar on the academy district bridge. ... _TK dies of laughter and cannot post chapter 25..._

_Break my fall, I found what was missing inside you...and it was a review!_


	25. Saturday Truths

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter 25: Saturday Truths

His mind flew over all the things he'd written down in his notebook regarding the Uchiha Massacre, and all he could remember of Itachi.

Truthfully nothing fit. His anger started surfacing, and he couldn't tell if he was angry at Itachi or at his confusion. Kyuubi's words resurfaced in his mind. _…If you were to see Itachi, you'd probably just blindly swing at him like always, never thinking, and pretend you know everything…_

He forced the anger down. Emotions did not control him and if Itachi had come for him, he would stand a better chance surviving if he kept his head. But did he want to destroy his only chance to return to Konoha by fighting? Did he want to risk it?

Itachi's voice broke through the estranged reverie of the younger boy. "Hello, little brother," Itachi didn't sound very pleased, but neither did he sound angry or cold. He didn't move. He stayed leaning against the rail of the bridge, his hands dangling in the open air.

It was then that Sasuke noticed something odd about his brother. While he knew without a doubt that the person on the bridge was Itachi, his brother looked like Kakashi. There was something vaguely wrong with that idea.

"I'm surprised," Itachi said, turning to look at Sasuke.

"For what?" Sasuke bit out. "Surprised that I haven't attacked you? Surprised that I haven't gone to meet my death by your hand just like the rest of our clan?" His hatred for his brother was confused by all the discrepancies he had thought up at the beginning of the week and there was not as much venom in his voice as there could have been.

"Something like that," Itachi shrugged. "What's holding you back?" He took out a kunai from his nin-kit and the visible black eye flashed red with the Sharingan. Twirling the kunai by the eye on one finger, Itachi said, "Fear? Uncertainty? Lack of weaponry? What is it?" He tossed the kunai across the distance and Sasuke caught it easily.

Sasuke forced himself to move onto the bridge, walking until he was standing just a few feet in front of his brother. He set the kunai on the rail, since holding it only made him edgier and pushed forward his intent to kill. "What day of the week did the massacre happen on?" he asked when he was sure he could speak without giving away his nerves.

Itachi turned and looked back at the river. A shallow mist had risen from it in the early morning, making it a bit damp above the river on the bridge. "Sunday," he said finally. Sasuke never took his eyes off his brother-turned-Kakashi. He knew who was beneath that disguise, though he didn't know why his brother looked like Kakashi. "I killed them all on a Sunday. I don't regret it one bit. How's Kabuto doing?"

"So he _is_ one of your spies." Sasuke breathed, finding his conversation strange. It had the feel of a 'How's the weather' conversation.

Itachi shrugged again. "I haven't heard from him in weeks."

"He's probably dead. He tried to kill me and kicked me into the Abyss. In a month or so, Orochimaru will need to transfer bodies again, and I won't be there because of Kabuto." Sasuke found himself brimming with questions he desired answers to, but none of them would come forward.

"Shame. I liked Kabuto. But he wasn't one of my spies. He was a good acquaintance, perhaps. The Third had Kabuto spying on Orochimaru, and after Orochimaru killed the Third, there was no one to vouch for Kabuto's return. Kabuto achieved Black Book status because the Third left no record of Kabuto's spy work. Thoughtful, eh?" Itachi relaxed against the rail.

"The Third?" Sasuke asked. "Kabuto worked for Akatsuki; he told me himself."

"Kabuto did a lot of things. Doesn't make him _my_ spy though."

Sasuke finally managed to blurt out a question. "Why Naruto? Why him, and not me?" he demanded. He knew Itachi understood; it was screamed in his body language.

Instead of answering directly, Itachi returned with a question. "Who does Akatsuki answer to?" Sasuke did not know the answer to that but Itachi didn't wait for any guesses. "Akatsuki is, or was, a group of the ten most skilled members of the Yobidasu clan. We were made of the five most skilled Summoners, and the five most skilled Summon Exterminators."

"What…" he stopped, not knowing what question to ask first.

"If you ask," Itachi said, "I will give you an answer, whether or not you like it."

"Why did you do it? It couldn't have been a curiosity."

Itachi looked at him, startled. "A curiosity?" he snorted. "Is that what they're calling it? No, that memory is false; I've tried to show you the truth of what happened. I can do it again if you like."

Sasuke knew the offer, but shook his head. "The Sharingan won't work on me anymore. I prepared myself against its use." Itachi seemed curious but didn't mention it. "I'll have to take your word for it," he told his brother.

Itachi began, "Do you know what I am, little brother?"

"What do you mean, _what you are_?"

"I can tell you what I am not. I am not mortal like you anymore. Several months after you were born, Tsuke attacked and with her came all ninety-seven of her Summon Creatures, all of them already Summoned. Level Four Summoning is a form of koumajutsu, of the Summoning Demons technique, that is forbidden because it uses a live human sacrifice. You were given to me, and I was told to run. Tsuke found me hiding beneath this very bridge with you and performed that on both of us. Yondaime Hokage-sama found us in time to stop the Summoning from being completed, but there was still a chance for the Summoning to continue."

Itachi pulled a small jewel from his pocket. It was blood red and heart shaped. Sasuke remained quiet but Itachi continued without prompting. "This is a heart—yours, in fact. It's your mortal heart. With this, I can hurt you without lifting a finger against you."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi squeezed the jewel and Sasuke felt something constricting his heart in his chest, painfully. It had been so long since he felt pain, he almost fainted. He had to lean on the rail to keep upright, but before long, Itachi stopped squeezing and the pain stopped. "If the jewel is squeezed enough to break, the Summoning will continue and you would transform irreparably into a Summon Creature like myself… like what the rest of our clan became with no one there to stop their Summoning."

Itachi put the jewel back in his pocket and Sasuke felt nervous knowing his brother had that power over him. However, since for the most part this meeting was peaceful, he didn't mention it. "Our clan became Summon Creatures?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi nodded. "Level Four Summon Creatures can't reproduce, as our clan found out. You were the last one who would ever be born to the possibility of the Sharingan, at least until you or I was old enough to have children." Itachi continued, quieter than before, "Then, a few months after the Kyuubi Incident, I had the opportunity to join the Yobidasu. Technically the Yobidasu had been exiled, but it took years to get rid of them all. I was trained here, in Konoha, by one of them."

"How did I not know?" Sasuke asked.

"The Yobidasu recruited in silence; it was a hard time for them since they were blamed for the Kyuubi Incident, though it was the blame of one Summoner alone. Well, that and you were just a baby when I joined."

"So… I'm a, a Summon Creature?" Sasuke _felt_ human, but then again, he supposed he never had any other memories of feeling different since it happened when he was a baby.

Itachi shook his head and the rising sun reflected off the silver hair he was disguised in. "You're a mortal and will remain that way unless your heart breaks." Itachi continued with his first point. "Years before I killed everyone, Fugaku," Sasuke interrupted to correct his brother.

"Father."

"Whatever," Itachi said. "Years after my trainer decided I had learned all I could from her, I heard the Council of Elders talking to Fugaku." That time, Sasuke didn't bother correcting his brother, too curious to talk. This was what Kyuubi mentioned, wasn't it? "They had devised a way to make the dormant Sharingan active in our clan members, and they were to use it to destroy the Yobidasu. Since all our clansmen had already lost everything, their lives and the ability to procreate, they jumped on the chance for revenge."

"And you… you killed everyone for that?" Sasuke asked, somewhat incredulously.

"You need to understand the Yobidasu clan. At any given time, there were at most ten Summoners, and thirty Summon Exterminators. Five Summoners and five Exterminators are assigned to Akatsuki. Akatsuki goes around the world, basically becoming the Yobidasu merchants, selling and buying what is needed that can't be gotten in our own soil. However, the entire clan was huge. We numbered closer to five hundred people. Cooks, doctors, nurses, bakers, singers, writers… Since Akatsuki were our traveling merchants that meant at any given time one-fourth of our fighters would be gone, leaving thirty people to protect almost five hundred people by themselves. We're good fighters, but if you were to pit us against an entire clan of over one-hundred Sharingan users, then five hundred people who had _nothing_ to do with the Kyuubi Incident would be killed."

"But… if what you say is true, that means technically you didn't kill everyone. They died in the Kyuubi Incident, right?" Itachi just shrugged. "So they were dead already. And you and me are the only ones alive."

"No, if you want to look at it that way, you are the only one alive." Itachi told Sasuke. "Fugaku broke my heart right before I plunged his own sword in his gut. As I said, I am not mortal anymore." He stood up straight and stretched his arms above his head. "You knew I was going to do it. You were playing in your toy room when I came to you that Sunday morning. I unlocked the door and told you to go visit Uzumaki-sama. I told you to stay there until I came to get you, and not to talk to anyone. I killed everyone then, but you came back. You _saw_ me kill Fugaku. You _saw_ him bust my heart before he died. You kicked his dead body over and over until I grabbed you and held you."

Sasuke did not remember any of this. He remembered going home from school, finding everyone dead, and then torture. He remembered his brother telling him he had done it because he was 'curious'.

"I told you, 'Go back to Uzumaki-sama's apartment and wait for me there,' and you went. I had to finish up. I couldn't let the Sharingan clan live to be used against the Yobidasu. One Sharingan-user could effectively destroy the clan, pretty much alone. I killed the rest, but then the ANBU bore down on me. I could have killed them, but the Council of Elders claimed to have you and said if I didn't leave Konoha, they would kill you. I left to spare you. When I managed to return a month later, you had holed up in the mansion, and you hated me."

Itachi picked up the kunai, but Sasuke saw nothing threatening in the move. He hefted the blade for a moment before replacing it in his nin-kit. "_That_ is why I did it. One thing I don't miss is the torture Fugaku put me through, or listening to you cry in pain whenever someone accidentally touched your back."

Sasuke still had so many questions, but only one seemed important at the moment. "Why do you look like Kakashi?"

Itachi shrugged. "I owed Hatake a favor."

"What did he do for you? And why does he want you to impersonate him?"

"I asked him to train you for the Chunin exam."

Sasuke noticed that Itachi didn't appear to want to answer his second question, but he was surprised by the first question's answer. "He trained me because _you_ asked him to?"

Itachi nodded. "He wanted to train Uzumaki-sama."

Sasuke paused and tried absorbing all the information. It was a lot to handle at once, but he knew he could do it. That time the day before, if he had thought he would have a conversation that wasn't spoken through death threats with his brother, he would have laughed. Itachi's story made so much more sense than what Sasuke _remembered_ that it was almost frightening. Sasuke used to hate his father with a passion rivaled only by a woman and chocolate.

"Why do you call him Uzumaki-sama?" he asked suddenly of his brother.

Itachi shrugged. "He deserves the respect. He's an honest kid, trying to survive in a world that despises him. Against all odds, he's surviving, _living_. He has a reason to live, and fights for that reason. He's like you used to be…when you thought you existed only to kill me. Now, you don't care. Anyone can see you just exist. But you don't appear to want to fight for your life, since you have nothing to fight for. Uzumaki-sama's goal is to be recognized by the people who hate him. Do you have one?"

It made a lot of sense. Almost too much sense. Sasuke was beginning to understand a lot of things. Itachi began walking away from the bridge, leaving Sasuke behind. Sasuke asked abruptly, "When you came after Naruto, why did you nearly kill me?"

"You came at me first," Itachi pointed out. "I was pretty pissed off." Itachi left Sasuke behind with more things to think about than he almost felt comfortable with. It all made a lot of sense, somehow, to have it that way. He had conflicting memories in his mind. He knew he always looked up to Itachi, and Itachi never raised a hand at Sasuke in anger, unlike their father who made great use of his belt.

He could remember times when Itachi would come to him with bandages after a beating and he would patch him up. But then he had memories of asking Itachi to train with him but the older sibling continuously ditched him and he never understood why. He would always get his hopes up the next day though and ask again.

Even his Aunt and Uncle had days when they would just be furious and they would scream and yell and make a big fuss. He'd once seen his uncle beat Naruto with a broom until the blond ran away.

Itachi had always, for as long as Sasuke could remember, called Naruto by his surname with a formality added on. "What's going on?" he demanded of nobody, leaning on the rail with his head in his hands. Everything suddenly began to lead back to Naruto, almost as though every event was attached to him by an invisible string.

It didn't seem as surprising that he had just seen his brother in Konohagakure. For years there had been times when he would be walking home from the academy and he could have sworn he'd seen his brother just ahead of him in the crowd, or turning a corner, or sitting on a bench—all ordinary things that ordinary people could be found doing on ordinary days—but when he would blink, his brother would be gone.

This time his brother remained and they talked; perhaps because Sasuke had not been aggressive _first_. If he looked back at the time Itachi had gone after Naruto three years previous, he noticed his brother hadn't attacked him first. If he had kept his head at that time, what would have happened?

He supposed it may have gone like this meeting—only sooner.

Sasuke mulled over the new information, wanting to believe his brother wasn't lying to him. Despite the fact that he had come to hate his brother after years and years of stewing over his clan's destruction, he wanted to cling to what little he had left. The Uchiha district was gone now, and all that remained was a storage shed filled with probably useless junk, and the two children of the main house.

_You surprised me,_ Kyuubi whispered in Sasuke's mind. _I thought for sure you would act irrationally. You handled yourself better than many adults in your situation would have done. Well done, boy._

Sasuke ignored Kyuubi's praise to favor asking the fox a question he probably would never get from anyone else. Sure, if he asked someone, he might get an answer, but he would never know if it were true or not. At least with Kyuubi he would know the truth, because the fox didn't have a reason to lie.

"Is it true?" Sasuke asked of the creature. It was already eight AM and teachers were beginning to make their way across the academy district bridge to begin their weekend errands. "Did that really happen—that Level Four Summoning thing? And all the rest of it? Is he telling me the truth?"

Kyuubi sighed heavily. _Children are such high maintenance,_ Kyuubi told Sasuke with a knowing certainty. _They always want answers. It's always 'tell me this' or 'tell me that'. Why should I say yes or no? What have you done for me to deserve those answers?_

Sasuke thought about that for a moment. It didn't sound like Kyuubi _wouldn't_ answer him, just that he saw no reason to without a payment. It was how Sasuke would have been if he had an answer to someone else's question. What purpose did it serve another to answer someone else's questions?

"Is there something you want?" he asked softly, noticing how some teachers looked at him as though questioning his sanity. At least _he_ knew someone else was hearing him. He ignored the looks the minute he noticed them, too tired to really care.

_I want sunlight, but you cannot give me that. _

"Then what can I give you?" he asked the fox.

_I suppose I will think of something eventually. Just know you owe me a favor, and a youkai always gets what is owed._ Sasuke wasn't about to complain at that moment, though it was highly likely that in the future he would feel very put off by the fox's desired favor. _It is true; when a Summoner loses their mind, the first thing they do is begin mass summoning youkai using mortal sacrifices. That is what happened to the Uchiha clan. As this is going on, the youkai who bond to the Summoner will kill anything and anyone it comes across. The Summoner can then use the corpses in a necromancy summoning, no matter how bad the body is torn apart. _

Sasuke shuddered slightly. That was disgusting. More than ever, he wanted to make sure Orochimaru never got his hands on the Summoning Demons technique. "What about the Uchiha massacre? Did he lie about that?"

_You owe me two favors if I answer,_ Kyuubi said.

"Fine, just tell me," Sasuke whispered.

_He did not lie to you. It was of his own free will that he killed the rest of your clan, and because he had the advanced Sharingan that none of them could kill him before he got to them. As Fugaku was bleeding to death, he crushed the jewel that kept Itachi mortal. You walked in just in time to watch your brother be devoured by the rip. _

"The rip?"

_Oh, I'm just going to get all sorts of favors out of you, aren't I?_ Kyuubi laughed but he continued without waiting for a response. _The rip is created when the fabric connecting my world and yours is cut. It has been called other things, like a 'void' or sometimes even a 'door'. When the rip opens, youkai have access to this world, and mortals have access to our world on the other side. The rip my Summoner created was tied rather crudely by the mortal who sealed me so the fabric became crystallized into the jewel you saw. When Fugaku broke the jewel, the fabric inside there was able to separate and the Summoning commenced once more, turning your brother into something very much like myself, only a thousand times weaker._

"Tied?" Sasuke felt really dumb to keep asking questions that seemed like he should understand already but it seemed so weird. It sounded like a string or a shoe lace.

_Think of it this way. Between my world and yours hangs a massive sheet woven of very fine thread, like a wall. Every so often, one small bit of thread starts to come loose from the sheet and certain mortals, or powerful youkai like myself, can see those loose threads. If the thread is cut, the rip opens. However, if the thread is not repaired properly, the rip will reopen. Summoners can see the threads to form the rip, then cut the rip, and finally repair the rip. It's not the cutting part that's hard, but the repairing part. _

Sasuke stood up straight as he asked, "Can I see it? The threads, I mean."

_Maybe._ He could almost feel Kyuubi's smirk. _But probably not. Only **one** in a **million** mortals can see it, and Naruto can. _

"How do you know he can? What if he really can't?" Sasuke knew it was useless to ask. The fox probably knew a great deal that Sasuke didn't, and he was probably right. If he said Naruto could see it, then Naruto probably could.

_He's carried my Maryoku around inside his flesh for over fifteen years. It would be a one in a million chance for him not to be able to see it. And when he decides to start Summoning and I am released, I am going to rip out the lying tongues of Fire's Council._

Sasuke could ask no more. He knew Kyuubi had left him there because his departure seemed to leave an empty space in his mind, though it was quickly filled with his tumbling thoughts. Kyuubi didn't seem very pleased near the end. Instead, he sounded incredibly vengeful; like something a mortal should never try to mess with.

He didn't want to really know more at that point. His day had already been trying enough. He'd spent the day at work and the afternoon at a seamstress's parlor. He'd barely had time for supper before heading off to Iruka's dorm and then speaking with Naruto. After that he spent all night being hounded by women (what did they want with him anyway?), and then he met his brother on the academy bridge and had a lengthy conversation with his brother and then Kyuubi.

Now, all he wanted was sleep and while falling asleep in the middle of the road seemed like a good idea at first, he decided to head back to Iruka's dorm and curl up there instead. When he got back, it was already after nine AM. He was surprised Naruto was still sleeping. Iruka was up and dressed, mostly, but he sat on his bed staring down at Naruto.

Iruka looked up as Sasuke entered as quietly as he could. "Good morning, Sasuke." Iruka greeted him in a cheerful whisper.

Sasuke nodded a brief greeting in return. "You don't have to whisper," he pointed out in his normal tone of voice. "The guy won't wake up if you smash a gong on his head; I doubt your voice will wake him."

Iruka chuckled ruefully. "I know, but I guess it's just a habit I have." He paused, looking at Sasuke closely. "Are you sick, Sasuke?" Sasuke shook his head. "You look pale. Well, paler than your usual color. Did something happen?" Again, Sasuke shook his head. "Are you sure? Sometimes when bad things happen, or even good things, it helps to talk about it. As you voice your thoughts, sometimes things become clearer."

Sasuke didn't respond. He simply stared at the older man, still standing halfway in the doorway. Iruka sighed and picked his hair tie from his wrist, pulling his hair back quickly. "Well, if you need an ear, I hope you know I'm always willing to listen." Iruka stood up and for a long moment, his eyes locked with Sasuke's. Then the moment passed and Iruka pulled on his shoes. "I'm going to be busy all day. Naruto doesn't have to meet with Kakashi today, so try not to pick a fight with him while he's sleeping so he can get some rest. Hokage-sama wants to see you at two o'clock today, but she didn't say what for so it might be useful to be early."

Iruka smiled then and stepped the couple feet to the door. Sasuke moved out of the way so the man could walk by. How was it that the brunette felt more fatherly than Sasuke's own father had truly seemed? "Yes, sir," Sasuke said, but only because he felt like saying it. He wondered if he felt like saying it because he respected Iruka, and he decided that he had come to respect Iruka in the past few weeks.

"I saw Sakura-chan yesterday evening," Iruka continued softly. "She and the others have plans to celebrate Hyuuga, Neiji's birthday with a surprise party. They're having the party next week on the third, if Neiji's team gets back from their mission. You and Naruto are invited, but she said if you two have trouble thinking of a proper gift, she would go shopping for you."

Sasuke nodded his understanding. "I will inform Naruto," he assured the older man, wanting only to lie down. He was so tired, his brain felt like a pile of goo between his ears and he was sure that if it were possible, it would start oozing out of his head. But even though he was so tired, he wondered if he would even be able to sleep. All that he had just learned would keep his mind occupied for hours.

"I guess that's it then," Iruka said. "You boys have a good day, and keep in mind I would like a bed to come home to, so try to keep your fights verbal." He left and Sasuke couldn't help smiling. Yes, Iruka was tolerable.

Did Iruka know Itachi was in town? Did Tsunade? Did Naruto…? Did anyone but Sasuke realize that Kakashi was a fake? He didn't want to think anymore. It was starting to hurt, however illogical that was to him. He didn't understand anything anymore. He couldn't feel pain, but he could feel touch and emotions. Was there a point when touch crossed the line? He didn't know what to believe: Itachi and a demon who killed thousands, or the memories that had no reason to lie. He was embarrassed and disgusted with himself for enjoying himself with Mariemi.

Closing the door to Iruka's dorm, Sasuke stepped over to the spot at the end of the bed he had been curling up at night. For a few minutes, he stared at the orange lump that was Naruto in his blankets and then he curled up into a ball, pillowing his head on hands. Though he closed his eyes, he wasn't sure if he slept.

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**Thanks for the reviews everyone! **KibaSin (This isn't a SasukeMariemi, much as I'd get a kick out of that), Ichihime, supersillee06 (welcome back! Since I wouldn't want to be cruel and leave you hanging, the guy on the bridge is Itachi!), nightshadow04, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I suppose I shall have to humorously dangle Kakashi's pairing in front of you then! Oooh, who will he be paired with?), Tashio, ST Nickolian (I have other plans for fan-girl Mariemi!), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 24 after I posted chapter 25. 

ANSWER: Thanks for making this story so popular everyone!

_My dad is unnerved by my music, so um, no lyrics this time... Please review! (...so I'll sing to the mule if you'll show she won't think that I am just a fool serenading a mule...)_


	26. Sunday Pains

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter 26: Sunday Pains

Tsunade was quite sure she was on the borderline for a mental breakdown. As it was, she had to deal with brats daily and give them all jobs that made them feel useful. She hated it with a mean passion and Jiraiya certainly didn't make things any easier for her to deal with because ever since he returned with Naruto, he seemed to make it a point to visit Tsunade no less than twice a day while he was drunk.

It was as though the old man was mocking her by sticking his tongue out at her and teasing, "I'm drunk and you're not!"

Ever since the girl Kagome had showed up in Konohagakure with Sasuke in the back of a mule cart, Tsunade's world had turned upside down and inside out. At first, everything was mostly okay, but then events started spiraling out of control and all of Tsunade's subordinates started refusing orders—okay, perhaps _all_ was a bit of an exaggeration, but enough to be very noticeable at least.

And all of the complex things that had happened seemed to lead up to where Tsunade was at that moment in time, in a meeting with the Council of Elders to decide whether or not they should allow a 'powerful clan seeking refuge' to live in Konohagakure.

It wasn't really a big issue to Tsunade. She rather liked Kagome; in fact, just the few times she talked to Kagome, she saw many similar characteristics between Kagome and Naruto and that made Kagome even more likable. But of course, the council only heard 'Yobidasu' and they clammed up faster than a shell under attack.

Tsunade knew why they were afraid. It had been the council's decision many years ago to manipulate prominent people in the Uchiha clan to start war with the Yobidasu in a revenge attempt for the Kyuubi Incident. At the time, the council had not been aware of Uchiha, Itachi's involvement with the Yobidasu. They knew there were still Yobidasu members hiding in Konoha, but finding them to exile them was harder than it seemed.

When Itachi heard about the plans to go against the Yobidasu, he specifically expressed his opinion of the idea, saying he would kill everyone if he had to in order to stop it from happening. Itachi was viewed as a threat to those plans, and Uchiha, Fugaku said he would take care of Itachi so that he could not interfere. Fugaku failed, and the child prodigy slaughtered every single person in his family except his brother.

Itachi's reasons for giving himself up in the end were still unknown. The Uchiha had always been fairly distant and secretive even while growing up. His mission reports were always direct and short lived; he didn't speak of anything unless it was vital to the mission, while others on his team wrote their mission reports in a way that was more natural and spoke of things they thought important and yet had no influence on or by their mission.

However, in the reports Tsunade was viewing that had to do with the Uchiha Massacre, Tsunade was noticing small things that she'd never known before. Many shinobi had reported that Itachi had been wounded in places that should have been fatal, and yet the wounds simply healed as though they weren't there to begin with. It was as though a lot of people thought him a true demon; he was too powerful to simply be killed.

Another interesting point was found in only one mission report, written by Hatake, Kakashi. No other report mentioned it, so Tsunade had no idea if what she read there was true or not since it seemed so wrong. However, at the same time, she knew Kakashi to be a fair and honest person. He was secretive and at times could be mysterious, but she had never known him to tell a lie.

"Under the orders of Councilman Zevenar," Kakashi wrote in his mission report, "I followed Uchiha, Sasuke from the Uchiha district to a small apartment complex in F-district. He met with Uzumaki, Naruto and proceeded to explain what was happening to his clan. Sasuke told Naruto that his brother was coming to get him and they would leave Konohagakure for good, and asked Naruto to go with them when Itachi came. Naruto agreed to go. At this point, I received orders from Councilman Zevenar to take Uchiha, Sasuke into custody. I moved to enter the apartment, but when I got inside, the boys were gone. I believe the boys may have had outside influence of great talent because they left no trail to their departure."

Tsunade did indeed find the information very interesting. Councilman Zevenar was no longer alive to verify the orders, but if Kakashi wasn't lying, then it was possible that Zevenar, who had been involved directly with Itachi's capture that night, had gotten Itachi to submit by using Sasuke as collateral.

A lot of this information was classified, of course. Through this information Tsunade now knew that Sasuke had been molded by the council's influence to go after Itachi, and eventually was to be used against the Yobidasu. If one man with the Sharingan could be powerful enough to defeat one hundred fighters, they'd wanted to turn that power to their advantage.

Since Tsunade had been away all that time, there was no way she could have done anything to stop what happened. If she _had_ been in Konoha, she still may not have been able to stop it.

She sighed and rubbed her temples. She'd been staring at all of it for so long, her eyesight was beginning to blur. A glance at her clock told her she would be meeting Sasuke soon, and that would get her out of a room filled with stuffy old men. They said very little, but when they did talk, they sounded like bloated goats, and to be honest they didn't exactly smell much better either.

"If you _don't_ approve their coming," Tsunade said finally, "I will leave." It was a worthy threat. Unless the Hokage was killed in battle, the Hokage would pick their successor, and what Tsunade was suggesting was simply leaving. If she did that, the city of Konohagakure would be split between military and church. She led the shinobi as the Hokage, and the Council of Elders was made of high members of the church for a balance. There was no question what the shinobi would do if their Hokage decided to turn away from the Council of Elders.

Tsunade looked at each of the six councilmen before standing up, grabbing the pile of papers she'd been reading. "I will leave you to your thoughts," she told them, "and return for your response shortly. This meeting is not over." She looked at Shizune and nodded at her discretely. Tsunade walked briskly out of the room and Shizune shuffled after her.

Only when they reached the safety of Tsunade's office did Tsunade begin to unleash her violent temper (which she would love to have done to the councilmen). She slammed the papers on her desk. "What is _wrong_ with them!?" she hissed through clenched teeth. "They know there's only seven people coming! I should have just done what Kakashi suggested and not told them _anything_!"

Shizune twitched slightly as Tsunade beat her fist on the desk several times. The new one wasn't broken… yet. She considered suggesting a heavy dose of calming pills but knew doing so would only make it worse. "They had a lot of control back then over the military, Tsunade-sama," Shizune reminded the other woman. "The Kyuubi Incident confused people and were easily manipulated into believing the incident could happen again."

"What are you getting at, Shizune?" Tsunade asked, half throwing herself into her desk chair.

"Well," Shizune was glad the barrage on the desk was temporarily stopped. She pulled a bottle of water from the hidden fridge and took it to her employer. "That's why I wanted you to look over the mission reports from the Uchiha Massacre. Uchiha, Itachi went to the Yobidasu after he was exiled because no one could inflict a killing blow, right?"

Tsunade nodded. "Says that somewhere in here," she said, lazily indicating the large pile of papers she'd slammed down. She chewed lightly on her lip as she thought. It was a habit she'd picked up somewhere in the last week. "But we don't even know if Itachi is one of the Yobidasu who would be coming. For all we know, he could be dead!"

Shizune shrugged. "But what if he _is_ alive? And now, Sasuke is back, and the council has Sasuke hating his brother. If the battle between Naruto and Sasuke was bad enough to break down half an apartment complex and cause enough damage to put a severe dent in our funding, imagine what would happen between Sasuke and Itachi if they were to ever meet again? I can't picture Sasuke keeping his head, and the incident three years ago proved that if attacked, Itachi will be furious. We don't even have any idea how strong three years with Orochimaru has made Sasuke."

"But still," Tsunade sighed but then bolted up and shuffled through her pile again for Kakashi's report. "Shizune," she said, reading through it again. The answer was almost laid out right in front of Tsunade, in the report that Kakashi had written several years ago…

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?" the woman asked.

"Is Fuyumi-chan around today?"

Shizune blinked as she checked her mental roster. "She may have gone to visit her brother. I had lunch with her the other day and she told me she planned to go see him about getting some money."

"Kakashi will forgive me, I'm sure," Tsunade said as a thoughtful smile spread across her face. "Go find Fuyumi-chan and tell her I need to see her immediately. She'll just have to bother her brother for money later." Shizune nodded and moved to the door, opening it just in time to cause Sasuke to knock on nothing at all.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune said, "Sasuke is here."

"Let him in," Tsunade said as she moved over to her filing cabinets. Jounin—S. She opened the drawer, pulling out Shen, Fuyumi's file. She heard Shizune telling Sasuke to have a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, and the boy moved quieter than a ghost as he sat down.

She flipped through the papers containing Fuyumi's history and found what she already knew to be there. She grinned broadly, snapping the file shut before crossing to her desk and looking once more at Kakashi's report. "Sasuke, thank you for coming," Tsunade told the boy.

"Did I have a choice?" the boy wondered aloud.

Tsunade chuckled. "Of course; there's always jail." He didn't share the humor. She beamed at him, thoughts flickering through her head of the recent gossip she'd come to know about that morning in the public bathhouse. "So, I heard you had quite the adventure last night," she teased him, only to see him stiffen.

"What adventure?" he asked cautiously, and she almost rolled her eyes at him. The silly child didn't think he could pretend it didn't happen, did he? Women all over the place were talking about it in their girlish tones that spoke volumes of infatuation! Instead, he froze up almost as though she'd just spoken the name of his brother—which she hadn't!

"Gai's sister, Mariemi, is talking all about it, of course," Tsunade continued. She watched him slouch slightly as if he were letting out a held breath. "What is your problem today?" she demanded.

"Nothing," he said instantly and sat up straight. She could see his cheeks were slightly rosy, and she thought, 'Aw, how cute, he's so embarrassed!'

"Just wait until Naruto hears about this one," Tsunade teased him and she could have sworn that blush almost looked suffocating.

"Don't tell him!" he practically squeaked.

She almost felt bad for him… _almost_ being a notable word. He shouldn't have gone in the first place if he didn't want anyone to know about it. After all, his movements were being tracked by a small tracing bug in his wrist, so if she wanted to know where he was at any moment in time, she could simply look at a monitor. He couldn't hide gossip that big!

"He probably already knows by now," Tsunade told the boy and was rewarded with an ill expression. "As well as the others. As we speak, they may be having a fit over it. I know Ino and Sakura are, since I saw them over lunch. I'll tell you, they _did_ get over you mostly, but," she laughed at his expression and forged onward, "after your little escapade with Mariemi, Ino and Sakura are once more the greatest female rivals one man could ever have."

"Huh…" he shook his head in disbelief before it seemed he realized he was showing more emotion than normal. Once he'd steeled his features back to normal, he looked at Tsunade with icy eyes. Perhaps she was getting good at reading his icy expressions for what they were, because she could tell he was really regretting his evening. "What did you ask me here for?" And he was trying to hide his embarrassment.

She sat down and decided to drop the subject for now. "I've asked you here because very soon I will be making another change to your probation terms." She almost thought the temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees. "It isn't anything too drastic. You'll still have to keep a job so you can pay back money owed before the end of the year… but I have come up with a suitable use for you."

She didn't get any reaction from him other than a raised eyebrow, which said very little to his thoughts. She supposed beating a reaction from him would probably be useless, and instead hazarded to guess that he was still not happy about it, or more likely he was not happy to be treated differently than others on parole. Instead, she continued, "I've been reviewing some of your records, and Naruto has been giving me positive reports on your behalf. You will still be monitored using the tracking bug, but I am going to send you back to the academy."

She was rewarded with a confused look. She had known he'd be confused. It was far too early for him to be let off of probation simply on good behavior. "The academy?" he asked. "Civilians don't go to the academy."

"No, they don't, but you are not—and never will be—an ordinary civilian. You still have the chance to go to jail if you screw up, and at this point I do not intend for you to go on any missions. However, the task I need you to do will require shinobi status. I spoke with your peers and they believe it will do you some good to return to the academy to relearn the values of being a shinobi of Konoha." Tsunade stood and moved to the window, looking out of it for her assistant. It hadn't been very long since Shizune left, but certainly it didn't take that long to find Fuyumi! The girl had deep green hair down to her ankles for goodness sake! She stood out in crowds like a sore thumb.

"My peers said this?" Sasuke asked, as though confirming her words.

"Yes. I had a chance to talk to several of your classmates and that is what they suggested to have you do. Since I refuse to show you favoritism, this is also the best way to have you earn your status as a Genin once more."

"Why are you altering the terms to begin with?" Sasuke inquired, though for a moment she thought his reflection in the window looked _very_ relieved.

"In a month or two, a new clan will be moving to Konoha and you will be asked to tutor one of the people coming. This morning I talked to Kakashi and he said the girl in question is terrible with weapons." Tsunade turned to look at Sasuke and watch his expression as she joyfully crushed down on him with the book of justice like he were only a bug. "She has a quick temper and is easily frustrated, making her nearly impossible to teach. She knows the general idea of chakra, but has never used ninjutsu or genjutsu, and she has never had a reason to learn taijutsu. She does not know anything about hand seals and if you can't teach her, I suppose your only option is jail."

His eyes went marginally wider.

"I know this seems harsh, but really, I need someone who knows all of this to teach her so she can pass at the academy. You'll go through a summer graduate program I'm having Iruka design especially for you and your advanced capabilities. You should hopefully have graduated by the time she arrives, so you'll be able to jump right into teaching her. At that point, you'll have until, oh, mid-December sounds good, and at that point she'll join the students at the academy. If she doesn't graduate with the other students in June, you will have to go to jail for the rest of your sentence." Sasuke looked quite devastated. Maybe Tsunade was crazy, but she thought it was sort of humorous.

"Okay…" Sasuke began uncertainly.

"Ah, and she cannot know that you'll go to jail if she fails either. No point making her feel worse when she seems designed against success."

"Why train her if she won't succeed to begin with?" Sasuke asked. Tsunade was glad he was asking questions. It gave her hope that he was beginning to remember he was just a boy and questions should be asked whether or not he was trained not to ask them.

"Because I like tormenting you," Tsunade responded cheerfully. It wasn't the reason, obviously. No, she was planning to request that when Kagome came, she would become a shinobi. Since Kagome was the head of the clan now, if Kagome was a shinobi and her loyalty was to Konoha, the rest of the shinobi wouldn't question the Yobidasu's appearance. The Council would still be suspicious and moody, but they were old men with sticks up their bums anyway.

"Anyway!" Tsunade continued, "You _still_ have to keep a job and do all the civilian fun stuff Naruto is teaching you about, and you still can't fight or anything else, even though by summer's end, I expect you to have graduated. The summer graduate program will cost you roughly eight thousand dollars and you will be responsible for paying for it in full before your first class on Monday." He groaned and she knew why. He only had a day and a half to raise the funds.

Tsunade smiled as Fuyumi and Shizune entered the room. "Ah, just in time. We just finished talking about Sasuke's new terms."

Fuyumi cast a dark look at Sasuke before flipping her long green braid over her shoulder. "Hmph!" she said, her hips shifting as she moved from one foot to another and crossing the room. She made herself comfortable in Tsunade's desk chair and began examining her nails as though they were more interesting. "This better be important, old lady," Tsunade's eyebrow twitched at the harsh name.

"It is, Fuyumi-chan," she said, doing her best to be calm. Her previous humor was erased as if it never were there.

"Who's the brat?" Fuyumi asked, casting another dark glance at Sasuke as though he were the cause of all her problems. Tsunade found that highly doubtful; Fuyumi's problems escalated for the most part from her own frivolous nature, and from her brother's usual refusal to give the girl money.

"Now, Fuyumi-chan," Tsunade said in a placating tone of voice, "don't be like that. He's older than you are. It isn't right to call him a brat."

Fuyumi narrowed her eyes at Sasuke and crossed her arms over her chest, either not knowing or not caring that it caused her bosom to stick out further. Tsunade wondered how she managed to get away with wearing those clothes if indeed she had visited her brother that day. It wasn't really Tsunade's business, but Fuyumi wasn't wearing all that much. Her blue jean shorts were tiny and skin-tight, almost looking painted on. She wore military boot-sandals and had a green sash tied around her waist through the belt loops on the shorts. Her top consisted of a thick green bikini-swim-top underneath her unzipped Jounin vest, which she had altered so it only went as far as her ribcage. Her outfit was designed for maximum skin show.

"He looks like a total idiot," Fuyumi snorted in a non-ladylike manner.

Before Tsunade could correct Fuyumi for the error, Sasuke bit out, "And you look like a dime-whore, but at least in my case, looks aren't the only thing I've got going for me."

Fuyumi was on her feet faster than Tsunade could stop her, which wasn't a good thing. Fuyumi had always been top of her class and had always been faster than her year mates. She had just turned fifteen recently, but she'd graduated from the Genin academy at age nine. If she hadn't graduated early, she would have been in Sasuke's graduating class.

After graduating, she'd taken the Chunin exam at age twelve, graduated from the medic-nin academy at age thirteen, and achieved Jounin status at age fourteen. Just six months earlier, at the request of her brother, Tsunade had given Fuyumi a teaching position at the medic-nin academy. She was almost overqualified but her brother didn't want her out in the field if it could be avoided, and Tsunade had to abide by his wishes (despite Fuyumi's objections) since he became her legal guardian after Fuyumi's mother passed away.

The temperamental girl dashed over the desk, causing papers to take flying lessons. Tsunade yelled, "Fuyumi, no!" even as she worried for Sasuke's safety. There were very few people who could avoid Fuyumi, making her a dangerous enemy. Even Shizune called out, hurrying forward to stop the girl before Sasuke could be killed.

That was why it was so surprising when Fuyumi was suddenly pressed against the desk on her stomach. Shizune didn't even get two steps forward before she stopped, amazed to see the sight. Fuyumi was being held by Sasuke—although the girl looked very upset—with him pressing her head against the desk with one hand and his other hand holding one of her arms twisted up behind her. His hips and legs were positioned perfectly to keep her feet off balance and away from his privates.

Tsunade hadn't even seen him get up, and there he was with one of Tsunade's fastest kunoichi pinned down to a desk. It was probably a major eye opener for Fuyumi, since the girl hadn't been beaten in a fight by anyone except her brother since she was at the Genin academy. Tsunade couldn't even think of what to say to that. Her mind was practically in celebration mode. 'Yay, Sasuke isn't going to be murdered,' she rejoiced internally, but right after that she ended up thinking, 'Crap, I have to scold him for retaliating and Fuyumi will let it go to her head!'

"Thanks for the warning," Sasuke said almost as though talking to someone not present. Sasuke leaned forward and whispered in Fuyumi's ear low enough that Tsunade and Shizune could not hear, and Tsunade watched rage cross the girl's features. She struggled to get away even more, but then suddenly stopped moving. She appeared to be listening to whatever it was that Sasuke had to say. Finally she nodded slowly and Sasuke let her up.

It was amazing. No one had ever calmed Fuyumi's rage simply by talking to her. She usually settled down if she got a good punch or two on the person who made her mad—her punches usually knocked her opponents out for hours—but never a few words.

As Sasuke let her go and sat back down in his seat, Fuyumi asked him with a frown, "Does that really happen?" He shrugged and Tsunade was almost dying to know what the boy told her. "Oh," Fuyumi blushed deep to the roots of her green hair, almost looking like an awkward tomato, "I'm almost scared to ask why."

Sasuke shrugged again. "I know as much about it as you do," he told Fuyumi. "Just don't do it again." Then, almost as though he were trying to make peace, he said, "You don't really look like a dime-whore. They wear more than you."

Fuyumi rolled her eyes, but she seemed to realize he was attempting to apologize. "Apology accepted. But I'm not sorry at all."

Sasuke told her, "I only apologized because he told me to. I don't really care either way."

"Now _that_ I can believe," Fuyumi snickered. She turned to look at Tsunade and the old lady wondered if she was the only one in the room who was completely confused. A glance at Shizune told her that she wasn't: Shizune was just as confused, if not more so. Who told Sasuke to apologize? No one else but the four were in the room! "Granny," Fuyumi hollered, "what did you want me for?"

Tsunade sighed; Naruto had started it, and somehow most people his age continued it. Before Tsunade knew what hit her, she had become pretty much everyone's grandmother, and she'd never even had kids. "Fuyumi-chan, I would like you to meet Uchiha, Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Shen, Fuyumi."

Fuyumi pulled herself into a sitting position on the edge of the desk and tilted her head at Sasuke in greeting. "So you're Kakashi-nii-san's runaway! I've heard a lot about you."

"Nii-san?" Sasuke asked in surprise. "I thought his family was dead! He told me everyone who he loved was dead!"

Fuyumi scowled visibly. "Me and nii-san don't get along very well. His dad had an affair with my mom, and when his mom found out she hung herself. Nii-san blames me for it, although that's totally not fair. But nii-san's acting weird today." Sasuke snorted and muttered, 'I'll bet' in a quiet voice. "He acts like he doesn't even know me!"

"Probably doesn't," Sasuke muttered. "Lovely sob story and all, but," he looked at Tsunade, "are we done here? Naruto asked me to join him and the others for supper at Ichiraku."

"Just a moment more," Tsunade said. She looked at the mess of papers around the room. Shizune was picking them up already. "Fuyumi-chan, I want you to help Sasuke remember something."

"Remember something?" Fuyumi asked before hopping off the edge of the desk, her braid swaying almost dangerously. "All I need is a date." She rubbed her hands together and tapped one toe lightly on the floor.

Fuyumi walked around behind Sasuke's chair and placed her hands over his eyes. He stiffened but did not move; Tsunade wondered why he didn't tell the girl not to touch him. However, she shoved that thought aside and told Fuyumi the date of the Uchiha Massacre—to which Sasuke stiffened even further.

Fuyumi's hands glowed with green chakra and her eyes closed. It was a gift of the Shen family bloodline, just as the Byakugan and Sharingan belonged to the bloodlines of the Hyuuga family and Uchiha family. The Shen family could surface and repress memories inside themselves or in others at will. Tsunade was sure that was how the council was able to get Sasuke's memories altered to begin with. Then, even though it was too soon for it to happen, Fuyumi stopped. There was no way he could have remembered so soon!

The reason became clear as Sasuke pulled himself away from Fuyumi's hands. There was a seal visible on Sasuke's forehead, just in the center of the upper 'v' of his x-scar on his face. It was clearly a seal similar to the one on Naruto's stomach; it would react if a certain type of chakra touched it. The mark was shaped like a ripple on water. Fuyumi saw that seal and gasped, "That's my mother's memory seal!"

Sasuke scratched his forehead wildly. "It hurts," he breathed. "I can feel it hurting. Why?" His nails created bleeding scratches. Shizune quickly moved forward and grabbed Sasuke's hands. Sasuke was glancing around the room almost as if he were confused. "I'm not supposed to feel pain. I haven't for two years. Stop it from hurting!"

Fuyumi looked very confused. "Tsunade-sama, this isn't right! That seal is supposed to be on me! It's always appeared on my forehead!" She bit her lip as Tsunade also moved forward to help Shizune. "And it doesn't hurt! He shouldn't know it's even there!" Fuyumi probably wasn't used to being confused. She was used to seeing the answer when no one else could. However, there had always been questions surrounding her inborn abilities. No one could fully understand it, just like there were questions surrounding the Byakugan or the Sharingan.

Tsunade shook her head. "Fuyumi, it _is_ on your forehead. For some reason, it is _also_ on Sasuke's. Don't worry about it for now and help us get him down to the hospital before he hurts himself." Tsunade didn't have any doubts in her mind as to why the seal appeared on Sasuke. His memory was altered by someone, and it was sealed so no one, not even a Shen, could resurface it.

Someone wanted to make sure Sasuke never remembered the truth about his brother. But how could Tsunade make sure Sasuke didn't fight Itachi if the elder brother were to return? She didn't think simply telling the truth would work at this point. No matter what, Sasuke hated Itachi for killing their clan, and Itachi had killed them all. There was no question about that. It was highly unlikely that Itachi would even bother to _deny_ that fact.

Tsunade supposed all she could do at that point was hope that Itachi was not one of the Yobidasu who would be coming. Because no matter what Itachi's reasoning was for killing the clan, the fact remained that he had done so and Sasuke hated him for it.

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**Thanks for the reviews everyone! **EagleMaster (careful... if you compliment me too much, it'll go to my head and I'll start mass-producing NarutoInuyasha crossovers), nightshadow04 (I think Kagome'll be in the next chapter), Forgotten Lake (_TK searches for Naruto left and right, frantically calling out for the guy. "Please don't tell me he's hiding in one of the closets with all the ramen again!!" she mutters. _Waha, you're on the other screen!), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 25 after I posted chapter 26. 

ANSWER: This chapter revealed something most of you may not notice, so I'll point it out for anyone willing to read this. Kakashi's report suggests that Naruto's memory may have been altered as well.

_Cirque Du Soleil was the inspiration for this chapter. Sometimes I can't even guess what they're saying. Beautiful music but I don't speak the language. Please review!_


	27. Falling Escape

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter 27: Falling Escape

He was fading in and out of consciousness. He knew that much, because for a time he would feel intense pain and after that would be blissful nothingness, only to have the pain return again when he woke once more.

This time when he woke, the pain was merely a dull, aching throb on his forehead. He hadn't felt pain for so long that he wasn't used to it anymore and it was almost too much to handle. Of course, it made no sense whatsoever. People didn't have the ability to switch between feeling pain or not feeling pain, did they? Either they did, or they didn't, feel it. It was only reasonable to think that it would be a constant 'yes' or 'no'.

He tried to lift his hand to his forehead but found he couldn't move it very far at all. Blinking at a blindingly white ceiling, he tried to puzzle why his arms weren't moving. His muscles were clearly operating the way they ought to.

"Quit it. Those bands are chakra juicers," he heard someone say off to the side of him. Sasuke turned his head and finally things began registering in his mind. He was in a hospital. Somewhere near him there was a monitor beeping in time with his heartbeat and various other useful hospital items were hooked up to him.

A blonde haired boy sat beside the bed in a cushioned chair that seemed to be the hospital's compromise between plush couch and kitchen dinette. The blond sat comfortably with one leg over the arm of the chair and his arm strewn over the legs of a girl sharing the extra large seat. The pink-haired girl appeared comfortable with the blonde leaning his back against her, and his head rested on her shoulder. Her green eyes were worn, almost as though she hadn't slept all night.

He turned his head as another voice invaded the near silence of the room. "You scared Sakura and Ino, you jackass!" yelled the brunette, pointing a furious finger before huffing heavily and pacing.

A glance around the room showed the small confined space to be filled with teenagers. Hinata and Ino sat on another seat similar to what Naruto and Sakura shared. Chouji sat on the floor with a large bag of snacks beside him. Shikamaru and Shino were somewhat hidden behind Ino and Hinata's seat playing chess on a tiny, magnetic chess board that seemed even smaller with their long fingered hands.

He tried to sit up, but something was holding him back. A glance showed him to be tied down. 'Why?' he asked himself mentally. He couldn't figure out why he was even in the hospital to begin with, and that aside, he was positive there were rules against so many people in the hospital room at once.

"Shut up and stop pacing, Kiba!" Ino snapped. She got to her feet and elbowed him on her way past. She walked over to Sasuke. "How are you feeling, Sasuke-kun?" she asked him.

"Pretty much like shit," he told the girl truthfully.

Naruto snorted sleepily, his blue eyes falling shut. "I'd feel the same if I danced myself to death." Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji choked on laughter they were trying to stifle. Hinata covered her mouth as though she were hiding a smile.

Sasuke felt his cheeks burning, although that had nothing to do with the pain in his forehead. Sakura instantly snapped, "You can all _leave_ if you can't be quiet!" She made more noise yelling at them than they did with their quiet amusement, and her defense only embarrassed Sasuke more.

"Now Sasuke needs to be protected by girls?" Kiba laughed.

Sakura shoved Naruto off of her so she could go after the laughing dog-lover. Naruto yelled as his face planted on the floor. "I was trying to sleep!" Sakura didn't hear her blonde companion's complaints. She already threw her fist at Kiba. Kiba attempted ducking, but tripped over Hinata's feet and caused Kiba to fall on top of the magnetic chess board, breaking it and sending tiny magnets skittering all over the floor.

"Enough!" As if the room couldn't get smaller, Tsunade walked into the room, shouting for silence. "I said you all could sit in here if you were quiet." Chouji popped an empty bag noisily, fully startling several people. "Ino, don't give him that medicine."

The previously forgotten Ino was about to insert a needle into one of the IV leads.

"But Tsunade-sama, it's kept him asleep so he won't be in pain," Ino said.

"Aren't you tired of cleaning up vomit?" Tsunade asked simply. Sasuke guessed he must have vomited every time they gave him the medicine, whatever it was, until it started working and knocked him out. "Take Sakura home."

Sakura clearly didn't like that idea. "But Tsunade-sama, I'm not tired," she lied.

"I'm sure you aren't. Go home and get some sleep." Sakura opened her mouth to protest. "That's an order, Sakura. Go home. Eat something. Get some rest. We'll talk later." Ino set the needle down and left with Sakura. Both girls looked as bitter about leaving as someone who ate a sour lemon. Tsunade looked at the others. "Scram." She told them.

The others didn't need to be told twice. Naruto got to his stubborn, tired feet, and braced himself with determination. "I won't leave," he muttered after the others had gone.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I didn't expect you to want to." She moved over to the bed and undid the straps keeping Sasuke held down. "Go into the hall and tell Fuyumi-chan to come in. Wait in the hall. Don't argue with me, Naruto. I'm not in the mood."

xXx

He bit his lip to hold back a pained scream. He'd hurt before. He'd been tortured before. But this was altogether different. Again, another painfully sharp edge dragged its way through his body. He healed as fast as the blade could cut, but that seemed to only serve the purpose of not dying.

He'd bitten through his lip, yet again, but it simply healed the minute he pulled his teeth out of the hole. A cold blade ran along his jaw, almost like an excruciating version of a lover's touch. Ever since he'd kicked Sasuke into the Abyss River, he'd suffered for it. It was one betrayal too many, or maybe it was simply too large of a betrayal.

But even though he knew Orochimaru still had use for him, the snake-sannin ignored those uses. Now, Kabuto was nothing more than disposable. He had to be gotten rid of, except nothing that was done to him would allow him to die. It was a worse form of death to be what he was. It wasn't his will. He didn't become this willingly.

Kabuto heard vague shouts and his torturer left him alone for a few minutes. He was chained to a wall and wouldn't be going anywhere. Even if he could, he wouldn't have been able to. He'd been chained up for weeks, tortured to a point where he couldn't tell up from down. His eyes were blurry and his ears were ringing with his own screams, even though he swore his voice had to be broken by then.

Time passed, but it couldn't have been very much. He had almost passed out when a blade bit once more into his body. He hadn't wanted this. He had been trained under the Yobidasu, and given an honorable position in Akatsuki. When the ban had been lifted and the Yobidasu clansmen who originated in Konohagakure were allowed to return home, he had been one of the express few who went home. He gladly returned to being a Konoha shinobi, and within months was given the mission to be a spy in Orochimaru's ranks.

He had done well for himself; Orochimaru thought he was working for the Yobidasu, and he hadn't bothered to correct those assumptions. It was why Orochimaru had been pleased to find that the Yobidasu clan had practically self-destructed. They were all dead, so Kabuto would be a 'faithful servant' since he had nothing to return to. What Orochimaru didn't realize is that around the same time, Orochimaru himself had killed the Third Hokage.

Kabuto would have returned, but there was no proof of his spy work. He had known the Third would not leave any proof. The man himself had said he would not. He didn't expect to get killed either. With the Yobidasu dead and the Third dead, Kabuto had no choice but to remain with his enemy.

Kabuto wouldn't still be suffering if he had not joined the Yobidasu for their special Hunt. It happened once a year. Everyone got together, new and old members, some coming from the other side of the world for it. Even Orochimaru, as a previous member of the Yobidasu, could have gone. But Orochimaru had stopped going long ago when he dropped his ties to the Yobidasu.

Orochimaru let Kabuto return every year for the Hunt, though his reasons were his own. The Hunt was deadly this time… Kabuto never knew what went wrong. He probably never would know. He simply knew that one moment, everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves, and he was pondering what to say to the clan leader about his problematic situation. The Third had died by then, and he didn't want to continue with Orochimaru.

As he got up from his place on a log by the bonfire, everything went suddenly dark and he felt a pulsing from within him. He almost thought his soul had turned to ice, and it was a painful feeling. Then he felt something growing inside him, and he tried to fight it. He woke back in Orochimaru's hideout, and the man was before him with a pleased smile on his face.

"They are all dead now," Orochimaru had said at that time. After that, he walked away and Kabuto could only hate himself. If he didn't know then what happened to him, he knew now. No human would still be alive after all this torture.

The blade pushed through his gut and was dragged through his organs as though his stomach were a container of paint that needed stirring. He screamed until the blade was pulled away, and sobbed as the wounds healed themselves. He should be dead. But he didn't regret it. Sasuke was better off dead. Kabuto couldn't let Orochimaru get eyes as powerful as the Sharingan.

And if keeping the Sharingan from Orochimaru meant Kabuto would spend an eternity tortured, so be it. His scream came out gurgled as the blade sliced across his throat and he choked on blood. Then it healed, leaving only blood as every other wound had done.

"Stop," Orochimaru's voice pierced Kabuto's fog-filled mind. Automatically, he turned to look at the man. He wasn't fairing well without Kabuto's medic healing. Kabuto couldn't do much for the diseased body, but he could take the edge off of Orochimaru's pain.

The blade stopped attacking Kabuto and he was grateful for the momentary reprieve. "I have a use for you," Orochimaru said. The chains were unlocked and Kabuto slouched to the floor, a soggy, bloody heap. "This is your only chance to redeem yourself, Kabuto. Don't mess it up."

Kabuto spat blood from his mouth, struggling to stand on legs that didn't want to get up. Was there any other way? What could he do? As he followed Orochimaru, he started regaining his strength and his eyesight cleared. Orochimaru stopped in front of one of the many doors in the hideout and opened it. When Kabuto entered, he thought he saw a ghost before realizing the person was really there.

"Prepare the body for me." Orochimaru said, as if the person weren't human. She struggled against her bonds, a gag in her mouth muting everything she could have said. She was chained to the wall on short leads so she couldn't possibly cause damage. Her midnight colored eyes were like out of control fires. "And Kabuto…" Orochimaru said, smiling sinisterly. "You only have ten days to do it."

The door slammed shut and Kabuto could not move. "Higurashi-sama," he breathed. Of course she recognized him. Her angry, muted calls were saying his name. He fell to his knees. Tears flowed steadily down his face. "Higurashi-sama," he repeated, unable to believe it was her.

Suddenly he was on his feet. The girl was naked, covered in dirt and grime. Her hands were bloody and her hair was matted to her face and body. He crossed the distance to her, pulling at the chains. It would be just as bad if Orochimaru took her body over, but ten times worse because Kabuto would have betrayed the last of himself and allowed it. It could not come to that.

"Mmmmnmn!" she yelled.

He pulled the gag off. "Higurashi-sama, I'm going to get you out of here," he promised her.

"He has the Shikon no Tama, and my Koumaberu and all my links." She told him. "I'm all out of Maryoku, so I can't call Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, or anyone else."

The rusted chain snapped and one of her hands was free. He was glad she hadn't asked why he was there. It was foolish of Orochimaru to think he would 'redeem' himself. Kabuto belonged first and foremost to his clan. She was alive and his loyalty never died. He simply believed everyone to be dead.

Clearly that wasn't the case. "It doesn't matter. I'm getting you out of here." Finally the rusted chain broke and he took his bloody shirt off, handing it to her. It was better than nothing. "Put this on," he told her. She made no complaint and put it on as he worked on the chains on her feet.

"I can't leave without my stuff, Kabuto!" she hissed when she was free. "Sesshoumaru would kill me himself if I left my Koumaberu or my links, and Inuyasha would wring my neck if I left the Shikon no Tama!"

"Damn it, better to die by their hand!" He told the girl. "They at least would be merciful!"

She didn't back down, but then again, she wasn't known for backing down from an argument. "The Shikon no Tama especially cannot be left behind! It was gifted to the Summoners from the King of the other world! It's not just Inuyasha who would be mad!" He sighed. He was a madman. "Thanks, Kabuto," she said, and he knew she thought he was going to help her.

He _was_ going to help her. He wouldn't deny that much. But if Orochimaru took those things away from her, they would now be under lock-and-key, not to mention under the watch of probably a hundred shinobi. Kabuto was good, but he wasn't that good, and he'd just spent several weeks being tortured endlessly, in a body that wouldn't die. He was weakened from poisoned food and drink, and if he weren't what he had become, he would have succumbed to blood loss.

The younger of the Higurashi twins had never been known for her speed. She was everything the opposite of her twin. Kikyou had been fast and agile. Kikyou only had to be taught something once and she would remember it forever. Kagome was slow and had a tendency to be clumsy. She also didn't take easily to the lessons taught her.

Kagome was more civilian material, no matter how much she used to beg her father to teach her his shinobi lessons. Kagome was a great cook, an excellent dancer, and had a knack for music. Kikyou may have excelled in those areas too, but she'd never tried. Kabuto remembered hearing Kikyou say once that those activities were useless, and that Kagome could put her time to better use studying her herbs.

It was because of Kagome's slow reaction time that Kabuto was able to get close to her, fast enough to knock her out. His life didn't matter. If he could get her out, he would gladly spend an eternity being tortured. But if Orochimaru got his hands on her Summoning ability, then neither of the worlds would be safe.

Kabuto picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder. He moved to the table in the room; syringes littered the surface, each one filled with a different colored liquid. He scooped up as many of them as he could. With her over his shoulder he moved to stand behind the door. Eventually Orochimaru would send someone to check on him.

He didn't have to wait long. Someone came and when the door cracked open, he drove one of the thick needles through their skull and pressed so the fluid flowed into their brain. Instantly the man began screaming and he fell to the ground, writhing and trying to reach the needle, but his coordination seemed to be off.

Kabuto didn't wait and left with the girl, gauging his location and making his way toward the closest exit he knew of. When he met resistance, he killed using the needles, saving his minimal Maryoku reserves for tougher opponents—if he met any.

He didn't meet any until he found himself on one of the many mountain cliffs. Orochimaru's hideout was inside the mountain, and below him was the Abyss River. From one of these mountain cliffs, he had tossed Sasuke's body.

"I should have known," Orochimaru drawled carelessly, his diseased body creeping forward. Kabuto turned to the man, raising his chin defiantly. The girl on his shoulder began stirring. "You cannot be trusted. That is not just one body you have stolen from me, but two!"

"You should never have trusted me to begin with," Kabuto snapped. He shifted further toward the edge. "As long as I live, you will not have Higurashi-sama's body!"

Kagome woke with a start and began struggling the instant she noticed she was being held in an unnatural position by someone who was potentially a stranger. "Let me go!" she yelled, and her struggling caused Kabuto to lose balance. Both Kagome and Kabuto fell over the edge toward the Abyss River. The last thing Kabuto heard as he slipped was Orochimaru swearing and Kagome screaming.

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**So popular! I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS! **KuroxTenshi (that was a deep review...hehe), Senyor Fier Mensheir (Welcome newcomer!), nightshadow04 (good thing you didn't have to wait too long, eh?), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I have no idea if Sasuke will tell... hehe, not like I'm the author or anything...), Forgotten Lake (_TK's bounty hunters return without Kakashi, but they do have pizza. TK walks over to Sasuke. "Something's going on here... everyone is disappearing..." _I want to talk...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 26 after I posted chapter 27. 

ANSWER: Thanks for loving this story, and as always, tell me if I am not doing justice to the story or if you don't understand something. If the questions aren't too spoiling, I'll probably respond to your review. Heck, even if they are spoiling, I'll love to know your questions (so I can dangle the answer just out of reach!).

_I was listening to songs from Tiesto, Cirque Du Soleil, and Blackmore's Night while writing this chapter! And all of them want you to buy their CD's and review my story!_


	28. Hiding Hurt

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. The main pairing is decided; all others are still being worked out. _

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Chapter 28: Hiding Hurt

Kagome coughed, choking up water as she struggled to swim with Kabuto. The twenty-two year old was almost the same build as Sasuke, but she had been fully rested, not half-starved when she'd pulled Sasuke from the river.

It wouldn't have been so devastating if her own people hadn't betrayed her. For as long as her people had inhabited the land they lived on, they had been at war. In the beginning, it was the Tengomi clan against the Higurashi clan, but then they joined together and became the Yobidasu clan—a single entity, but two meshed clans. Once they had come together, they found a new enemy sooner rather than later in the Sound Ninja.

She was so angry. How could they let the Sound Ninja into the Yobidasu territory? How could her people do that to her? As if she hadn't lost enough, but now she lost her people's trust. She never thought Grobukk, the headman of the village, to be so shallow as to believe the Sound would actually protect the villagers.

The Sound could never protect the villagers like she could. But they had betrayed her trust. They had known that she trusted them inside her shrine and used that to get close to her. She could admit, she wasn't her sister. She wasn't strong, or intelligent, or very useful in battle.

Her villagers knew that if she didn't have her links or her Koumaberu, she was already fifty percent defenseless, and if they could keep her from forming the Heaven, Hell, and Earth sign with her hands, she was completely at their mercy. Sure, she could kick, scream, and bite all she wanted, but she couldn't do all that much damage.

When they had hit the water, Kabuto had held Kagome tight at first so they couldn't get separated in the strong currents. Before they knew it, the current carried them far from where the enemy was. Kabuto had managed to keep their heads above water, but before too long, he passed out and despite how mad Kagome was at Kabuto for not going back for the Shikon no Tama or her other belongings, she still held onto him and tried to keep them above the water.

The Abyss was the most dangerous river in existence, because it was hundreds of feet deep and the current flowed so strongly that anything unlucky enough to fall victim to its currents could automatically be considered dead because very few knew how to navigate the flow of the waters.

Kagome could recall being her father's 'little water demon' because she was one of the best swimmers. She used to hate swimming. It wasn't fun to be compared to her graceful sister who was so much like a 'hummingbird' and Kagome was just like a water demon.

Now, being a good swimmer helped because not only had she managed to drag Sasuke out of this river what seemed about a thousand years ago, but she would be able to drag Kabuto out too. She didn't know where they were when they came out; they had to have fallen into the river beyond the edge of the Yobidasu territory. She wasn't good at geography either. What did she need to learn maps for when usually she could just ask her Summon Creatures?

Except now, she didn't have Maryoku to Summon, and she had a distinct lack in links or her Koumaberu. She dragged the unconscious man away from the bank toward the tree line, pulling him under sap-oozing pines. She knew she was definitely not anywhere close to the Yobidasu territory, since the mountains were in the distance and her home was beyond those mountains.

Once they were under the trees, she realized she ought to check Kabuto and see if he was even breathing. Shouldn't that have been the first thing she did after getting him out of the water? She was supposed to be a Yobidasu healer, so she should know what to do.

Instead, her mind simply escaped her and she stared at the unconscious man for a long moment before she began crying. Her father would know what to do and would have stood behind her and encouraged her to keep trying to remember what to do next. If she couldn't guess right in three tries, he would have knelt beside her and pointed out what either needed to be done or she was doing wrong.

But her father wasn't there anymore. He was gone and he wasn't coming back. She didn't hear when Kabuto started feverishly coughing up blood and water on his own, as if his body were rejecting the liquids that weren't supposed to be in his lungs. She remained with her arms wrapped around her and her knees pulled protectively up against her chest, rocking back and forth.

"I—want—my—papa!" she cried. She was only fifteen. Fifteen was too young to be alone in the world, and she sure felt that way. Her entire clan was decimated in the span of one night, and the village she was sworn to protect had betrayed her to the Sound before she could even realize what had happened.

"Higurashi-sama," she heard Kabuto breathe hoarsely before he helped her to her feet. How much time had she sat there crying? "It's going to be okay…" He sounded ill, but determined. She should have listened to Sango when the other girl said Kagome wouldn't be okay on her own. A piece of her wanted to believe Sango could have stopped it from happening, even though Sango wasn't any more trained than Kagome was. Sure, Sango was an Exterminator not a Summoner, and the things they learned were entirely different, but both of them were still just teenagers.

They _should_ have been dining with their family. They _should_ have been growing up not knowing much of the outside world. They _should_ have smiled and laughed and played games with each other. They _should not_ have lost everything.

Kabuto looked at the girl he was half-carrying. She looked abandoned. Tears flowed down her wet face and her hair was practically a rat's nest now. She didn't look too dirty after a long ride in a rapid river, but she was only wearing his ragged, cut-up shirt, and that barely made it to her thighs. She was roughed up in some places, but he guessed whatever happened to her, she gave her attackers one hell of a fight.

As for him, he only had pants on, littered in holes from where he'd been stabbed. Most of the blood seemed to have washed away, and he wasn't wearing shoes. He didn't have any scars from the torture. All the pain was mental; he could remember each and every stab painfully.

He wondered what had happened to allow Orochimaru get close to her. Did something happen to her Summons? Kabuto knew her Summons were not easily taken down. Both Kagome and her twin were Combination Summoners; Kagome had the Dog Princes as Level Three Summons, and Kikyou had the Shikigami Twins. So what happened?

It wasn't until well after darkness had fallen that the two stumbled upon a small, secluded village in the forest. Really, they were lucky to find anything at all. He wasn't sure where he was going with her, but he knew they couldn't just sit and wait for Orochimaru to find them. Orochimaru might search the banks for them. In less than ten days, Orochimaru had to switch bodies, and he wanted to be able to Summon.

The village was too small to have an inn, so Kabuto guided Kagome toward one of the village huts. They appeared to still be living in the past, with houses made of logs and straw-mud roofs. He saw no electric lines, and guessed by the fact that the roads were still dirt paths and there were no sewer entrances anywhere to be seen that plumbing was not yet invented in this small place.

Someone answered the door on the fourth knock; a young woman with a baby on her hip and a book tucked under her other arm stood there, for a moment very surprised to see them but then the moment passed and she moved aside without having to be asked. She looked tight-lipped and had a half-glare for Kabuto, and he wondered why.

"Thank you," he breathed, guiding Kagome inside. Kagome didn't have any desire to do anything for herself at that time, and he could only hope that a good night sleep would bring her back to her normal self. This obvious depression wasn't healthy for her.

He helped Kagome sit down on the floor and the girl curled up in the fetal position, sobbing noiselessly. The front door slammed shut and the young woman—he figured she couldn't be more than his age—tossed her book onto a futon that lay on the simple, hard wood floor. "How many more are there of you?" the woman demanded and her baby instantly started screaming.

Kagome curled further into herself at the child's scream. Kabuto was confused and knew it showed. "How many more… it's just me and Higurashi-sama…"

"Right, and by morning the village will be razed, our men will be forced to join you, and our women will have been raped."

"I…" realization struck him. Orochimaru had gone to many villages to 'recruit' members. Kabuto had never gone since Orochimaru had Kabuto training Sasuke in things that Orochimaru couldn't handle with his body so diseased. He placed a hand to his forehead and found that the forehead protector with the sound symbol hadn't come off, surprisingly.

Shaking his head, he pulled it off. "I'm afraid you're misunderstanding our arrival," he told the women. "I am not a Sound shinobi."

"You can't fool me." She snapped. The child cried louder. "You have their symbol!"

"If I was one of them," he growled in annoyance, "I wouldn't have knocked on your door. If I was one of them, you wouldn't be talking to me as you are. And if I was one of them, you would be dead." He figured he deserved the chance to be annoyed since he'd spent the last several weeks being tortured and now he was just tired and wanted sleep even though he didn't need sleep.

The woman snapped her mouth shut, but her eyes were still angry. Kabuto knelt beside Kagome and checked the wounds on her body. The young woman gasped indignantly, but Kagome didn't even realize what he was doing since she'd fallen asleep.

"I was trained to be a medic-nin by the finest healers this earth has ever seen," Kabuto explained. He didn't want to run his minimal Maryoku reserves out, in case it was needed later, so he didn't heal all of the injuries. She had a nasty cut on her left ankle, so he healed that one. "Do you have bandages and soap and water?"

The woman set the crying child on the futon and moved over to a crudely built cabinet. She pulled out clean linen and a small jar, then moved to another cabinet and got down a small bowl. She didn't have running water, but she kept a bucket on the counter that seemed clean and was probably from a well somewhere in the village. She filled the bowl with water and set a bar of soap in the bowl. It wasn't exactly what he'd been thinking of, but it was something.

She handed him the items and he set them beside him. "Thank you," he told her.

"The jar is filled with injury salve. A traveling peddler said if you clean the wound with it, the wound won't get infected."

He opened the jar, a skeptical look on his face as he peered at the goop in the glass. A sniff of it almost made him lose what little contents he had in his stomach. Immediately he capped it again. "Smells like a rotten foot," he muttered. "She'll be fine enough if I just wash them with soap for now."

The woman nodded and put the jar back in her cupboard. It only took a few minutes for Kabuto to clean and wrap up Kagome's injuries. When he had finished, he found the woman was standing beside him with two sets of clothes. "Here," the woman told him, "it isn't much, but you're lucky you're getting this."

He again thanked her and struggled to dress Kagome in the provided clothes. He assumed the second set was for him to wear, so he pulled off his ragged pants and got dressed in the clean clothes. When he looked back at her, the woman was red-faced. "Thank you for your help," he told the woman.

She shook her head, though he wasn't aware why, and moved to calm her child down. "I've done something for you, so you can go out back and chop my firewood tomorrow," she said sternly before turning her back on him, lying on her futon.

He wasn't complaining. The village was so secluded, he figured if Orochimaru was looking for them, it would at least be a couple days. By then, he could have repaid this woman for her favor—because he wasn't just going to leave her to think he really was a Sound ninja—and they could probably be long gone.

xXx

Kagome woke well after dawn had risen and was surprised to find herself dressed in strange clothes and in an unfamiliar place. She didn't know why it was so surprising. She was waking in unfamiliar places a lot lately. However, this place didn't feel threatening, and neither did it look dangerous.

It actually looked like a small home. She tried to remember how she got there but she had no recollection of it. She did remember being inside of a mountain, and then she saw Kabuto, and Kabuto and her fell off a cliff. After that, she remembered crying a lot.

She got to her feet and headed for the only door she could see. Outside, she found herself in a tiny little village with no more than ten houses. Most of those people she saw were women or else they were children, but the people seemed to have an air of depression hanging over them. It looked like the village had once been larger but most of it must have burnt down.

No one looked at her, as if she weren't even there. Somewhere beyond the houses she could hear a tapping noise. It was among the only sounds other than that made by the wind or the birds. No one talked in the village, and the children didn't play. She followed the tapping noise and it grew louder until she came out behind the row of tiny houses. Kabuto was the source of the noise. He was chopping wood and stacking it in a pile under a wooden shelter.

A young woman watched him with the eyes of a hawk, a baby on her hip. When Kabuto noticed Kagome, he stopped chopping wood and crossed the distance between them. Talking quietly so the woman couldn't hear, Kabuto asked, "How are your Maryoku reserves this morning?"

"Good morning to you too," Kagome said but she rolled her eyes. Kabuto didn't like beating around the bush, if her memory served her properly. "I'm feeling better than I was yesterday."

He nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment before he asked, "Do you have enough Maryoku to Summon Ah-Uhn?"

Kagome sighed. "I might, except I can't without Ah-Uhn's link. And a certain Exterminator made me leave my links behind." She put a hand on her hip and glared at him. She was still upset about that.

He sighed. "Well, we're going to have to get out of here in a hurry." He ran a hand through his messy silver hair. "Is there anything you can Summon?"

"Depends on where you want to get to," Kagome told him. She _did _understand his reasoning to leave her things behind. The links and the Koumaberu would be useless if she were to be killed anyway. "I know I don't have enough Maryoku right now to Summon Sesshoumaru or Inuyasha without the bell Sesshoumaru gave me."

"We're not safe at the Shrine. Orochimaru probably has his subordinates there now, but we _should_ go back and destroy the Shrine at least." Kabuto said, although he looked less than happy about it. It had been his home as much as hers but the secrets of the Yobidasu had to be protected and even the walls of the Shrine had secrets.

"We won't have to worry about much," Kagome told Kabuto truthfully. "Avei and Kotor are delivering two large boxes of things from the Shrine to Konohagakure. After the Shrine burned down, there wasn't very much left and I was able to fit it all in the boxes."

Kabuto looked surprised, but his surprise didn't come from the fact that the Shrine had burned down. "Who do you know in Konoha?" he asked.

"Hatake, Kakashi," Kagome smiled and then rubbed her arms. It was slightly chilly, even though it was the middle of the day. "Jaken came with a letter from Sesshoumaru telling me to pack up all that remained of the Shrine and mail it to Kakashi-kun."

"And you didn't question that?" Kabuto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sometimes you just don't question what Sesshoumaru tells you to do!" Kagome huffed. "I can get away with a lot of things, but even I know my limit."

"Speaking of the dog," Kabuto rubbed his temples, completely vexed by the question in his mind. It had been bothering him for a while now. "Where was he?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked.

"He's supposed to be your Summon, right? Why wasn't he with you?"

"He's not _my_ Summon. If anything, I'm his and Inuyasha's. And I only know that they were in their world. They can't be with me all the time you know." Kabuto sighed for the millionth time. "What? They have other obligations. Did you think they were called the Dog Princes for no reason?"

"Whatever," Kabuto grumbled. "We can't stay here, and we can't exactly go back to Yobidasu territory. Any suggestions?" Kagome shook her head. She was clueless. Even though her temporary trip to Konoha had been fairly without incident, she didn't think she could just go back there. "What about Sunagakure? I heard Gaara is Kazekage now…"

It was Kagome's turn to sigh. "I _really_ don't want to see him."

"Well, then think of a better option." He told her. "Konohagakure is out of the question, home is out of the question, so Sunagakure probably is our best hope."

Kagome pursed her lips. "Fine. I'll think of something to Summon."

He nodded and then ruffled her hair with a small smile. "Don't worry about your links or your Koumaberu. He can't use them anyway, and I'm sure if you tell your dogs what happened, they'll understand."

Kagome glared at him. "Just don't talk about it, Kabuto."

"Are you hungry?" Kagome turned to the young woman and her glare was gone instantly. She smiled brightly, and Kabuto saw the young girl he used to see. It made him wonder if Kagome had always worn a mask—if indeed her cheerful nature was a mask. It was almost unsettling to see that instant transformation. She was a lot like her father; she sometimes had moments when everything got to be too much for her and she cried, but by morning, as he was seeing, she was hiding it all behind a mask of cheer.

"Did someone say food?" Kagome beamed. Oh, yes… she was incredibly angry at him…

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**Thanks for all the loving support and reviews everyone!! **angelwings39 (I hope to continue a good story for you, and I can't tell you the pairing, but Kagome is 15 and Kakashi is approximately 29), KibaSin (I did not understand half of what you said in that last review), nightshadow04 (She can!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Yes, she is), Senyor Fier Mensheir (He is), Zana Haruko (You seem knew, and thank you), EagleMaster (Blah, you told, you told, now I must remove that deadly information), Tashio (I did not trash her), ST Nickolian (Oh dear, is that bad?), KuroxTenshi (fortunately), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 27 after I posted chapter 28. 

ANSWER: If you know the pairing, congratulations. If you don't, I guess you missed out 'cause I'm taking the spoiler out of my profile! If you **know the pairing**, please **don't tell anyone**. Also for those who haven't realized it, Kagome hides her pain/sadness/etcetera under a mask of happiness.

_I saw three ships come sailing in on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, I saw three ships come sailing in on Christmas Day in the morning... and they were bringing me reviews!_


	29. Cell Mates

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. I could put whatever I wanted here and you'd probably never notice... Hmm... _

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Chapter 29: Cell Mates

By the time Wednesday had rolled around, everything was back to normal for the most part. There were a few changes—such as Sasuke starting at the academy again—but not much had really changed. Sasuke had managed to cover tuition costs by getting the storage key from Sakura and selling some of the expensive items from there. It only took three vases to cover the costs of tuition and new nin-gear.

He thought Itachi was avoiding him. He had more questions, but couldn't find Itachi, either at Kakashi's apartment or after scouring the city. Mostly he was too tired to bother looking for Itachi after the whole fiasco with Fuyumi and the pain on his forehead, and thankfully Naruto was too tired on Sunday from staying up all night in Sasuke's hospital room to bother with the civilian gods' Church. He told Sasuke, "I've got three years to take you."

Sasuke also found out that Sakura and Naruto thought 'Kakashi' had a girlfriend, since he was different now. Sasuke knew that Itachi's transformation jutsu was flawless from when he'd seen Itachi on the bridge. But apparently there were things about Kakashi that either Itachi didn't know, or wouldn't commit to, such as Kakashi's love for romance novels. If Itachi knew about it, he probably still wouldn't have touched the book with a ten-foot pole.

Itachi probably didn't know that Kakashi usually didn't partake in his students' training. He told them what to do, sometimes showed them how to do it, and then told them to have at it and sat down to read a romance novel, which was very rarely far from his hands at any time in the day.

The man even took those books on important missions! It was like a pacifier or something… Sasuke found that thought amusing. Sasuke could probably have warned Itachi of some of the things he _should_ be doing, or _should not_ be doing, but Sasuke wasn't exactly in a giving relationship with his brother. He didn't know what his relationship with his brother was anymore, but he knew it was not a giving one.

Aside from that, Sasuke was _jealous_. He would never admit as much aloud, but Naruto and Sakura got to train with his brother and that was something he'd always wanted but rarely got. He wasn't sure why he cared; his brother had killed his whole clan, and it was his job to avenge them… the reason his brother did it didn't make a difference, did it? Had that changed Sasuke's status as an avenger?

When Mariemi heard Sasuke was back at the academy, she nearly suffocated him as she squealed and hugged him. Fan-girls were _dangerous_ people. He almost thought in a contest between the two (Mariemi versus Orochimaru) Orochimaru would hang himself. So, on top of working from eight AM to five PM at Stienem's, Sasuke worked with Iruka until eleven thirty PM.

Sasuke missed Hyuga, Neiji's birthday party on the third because he was working and training with Iruka. Since the third fell on a weekday, Sasuke had to work and train. He didn't exactly feel bad, since Neiji wasn't exactly a bosom buddy. The Hyuga clan had always been against the Uchiha clan, though why that was, Sasuke had no idea.

He wasn't the only one who missed it. Sakura was one of those who had put the entire party together, but 'Kakashi' had kept her and Naruto from going. Both Naruto and Sakura had seemed sore about missing it.

Soon, Friday burst around and Naruto suddenly remembered he hadn't done any searching for a place to live. As Iruka and Sasuke ate their breakfast in the cafeteria of the dorms (actually, Sasuke stared at his and continued to wonder if they were really alive) Naruto raced to the closest news stand for a Realty Paper and then raced right back.

"Okay, Sasuke!" he said, clearly in a hurry, "This is called a Realty Paper." He stole Sasuke's plate since the other boy wasn't going to eat his omelets and downed two at once, nearly choking.

'Revenge of the living omelets,' Sasuke thought with amazement as Naruto chugged half of Sasuke's orange juice. He didn't respond to Naruto, since he figured Naruto wasn't looking for one.

"Naruto, calm down," Iruka said. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Naruto grabbed another omelet and shoved it in his mouth. "Memub bib bi berus bibnuh!"

"What?" Iruka rolled his eyes. "Chew and swallow before you talk. I can't make sense of a word you just said."

Again, Naruto began half-choking and gulped another fourth of the orange juice. "Because this is serious business," Naruto repeated.

Iruka again rolled his eyes. "I doubt Kakashi will be there before his usual eleven AM, so you don't have to rush."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked, "Then explain how he came yesterday at like, _ten_! He's been getting earlier and earlier. And besides, Sasuke's gotta learn this stuff too anyway!"

"Oh boy," Iruka said with a sigh.

"And besides! This has to be done during the week!" Naruto told him. "The Realty offices are mostly closed on weekends."

"Naruto, breathe before you pass out." Iruka said.

Naruto opened the Realty Paper. "Okay, okay." He took a pen out of his pocket and started circling ads in a seemingly random pattern. "Good, good, good, too expensive, studio, bad district, good, bad, bad, questionable," Naruto said as he circled—or in some cases put an 'x' through the ad.

"Naruto, where's that explanation?" Iruka asked when Naruto seemed to forget the other two were even there.

Naruto looked up, blinked, and then said, "Oh yeah. Okay, you look at the ads, see if something fits your style and expenses, and then you go to the listed realtor for that place and ask about the place. If you like it, you sign a lease and rent your apartment. Leases come in three different lengths: monthly, bi-yearly, and yearly. You have to resign a lease every month when you pay your rent on a monthly lease. On a bi-yearly lease, you have to resign a lease every six months but you pay your rent every month, and it's mostly the same on a yearly lease except you resign your lease every twelve months. There's not too much else to it than that."

"Okay," Sasuke said. He pointed at the last omelet. "Eat that so I can put the tray away." Naruto unconsciously grabbed the omelet and shoved it in his mouth. Sasuke was about to take the tray away when a hand shot out and grabbed the orange juice cup. Naruto finished the juice and tossed the cup back at his friend.

Iruka shook his head. "I have to get to work." He told the two boys.

"Its summer," Naruto said suddenly, looking up from the paper. "You don't have classes!"

"Someone has to put together the targets you students destroy at the academy," Iruka told Naruto before ruffling the boy's messy hair. "You should find your forehead protector. You look silly without it."

Naruto ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "I think I look cool with my hair growing out," he said randomly, "It's looking more and more like the Fourth's stone hair every day," he grinned to himself. "It just kind of hangs in my face and looks all cool and stuff. Even Sakura-chan said I look cool!"

Iruka smiled. "You're more like the Fourth than I think you realize. Anyway, I have to work. Good luck with the apartment hunt." Iruka made his way out of the cafeteria and Sasuke came back to the table to find Naruto frowning and looking at his growing blonde spikes. It was almost down to his nose now, seeming to grow faster than Sasuke's hair was. Of course, Naruto's hair started out longer since Sasuke ended up having his head shaved.

"Nah," Naruto shook his head suddenly, and turned to the paper. Sasuke sat down at the table and rubbed one finger over the scar on his face. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it seemed to _tingle_ in the early morning. He couldn't explain it. Sasuke didn't have to work until eight and it was just barely going on seven. He would rather die than go to work early…

"Well," Naruto said, pointing at one of the ads, "this one is a two-bedroom." Sasuke looked at the paper and tried to read the ad Naruto's finger was on top of. He grabbed Naruto's finger and bent it out of the way, earning a yelp from the boy. "Ow, Sasuke that _hurt_!" he moaned, rubbing the abused appendage.

"Keep your finger out of the way then, idiot," Sasuke drawled.

Naruto was instantly on his feet. "You wanna go?" he demanded. "Then let's go! I'll take you on and kick your ass!" Teachers turned to look at them from their sleepy breakfasts.

Sasuke lifted his eyes to look at his friend, leveling a glare at Naruto that only the boy was ever privileged to receive. He suddenly didn't care if he went to jail; at least he would have had one good fight. Maybe later he would regret it, but it was just like Kyuubi had said. He was just a teen. "I'd like to see you _try_." He hissed lowly as he stood from the bench.

"Bastard!" Naruto shouted, launching himself over the table into his friend. Six tables and one of the serving lines were destroyed before the fifty-two present teachers could stop the two.

xXx

"This isn't working," Tsunade said, letting her head fall on the desk in dismay. Shizune handed Tsunade a few aspirin and a bottle of cool water from the fridge. Two teens stood before Tsunade's desk, black and blue from head to foot, but at least this time they were _dressed_. Kakashi stood, strangely enough, at attention with no romance book in sight. Sakura looked frustrated as she glared from one boy to the other, apparently not sure who to be angrier at.

Kakashi drawled, "You act like this is a daily occurrence."

Tsunade glared at the man. "It may as well be, since the last time it was one hundred fifty thousand in expenses! You will pay for this damage, Kakashi, and I will not have any arguments!"

Kakashi inquired, "And why should I pay for it? I had no involvement in the destruction they caused."

"Because you had no involvement!" Tsunade snapped. She whirled on the two boys. "I don't understand!" she told them truthfully. "You never acted like this three years ago, so why are you like this now?"

Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other before Sakura said, "Um, Tsunade-sama, I take it you never heard?"

"Heard what?" Shizune inquired when Tsunade decided to groan and put her head on the desk again.

Sakura said, "They always fought. Perhaps not _indoors_, since they usually kept it at least at the training grounds or in the open when we were out on missions…"

Tsunade glared at Kakashi. "This is all your fault for encouraging them."

Kakashi blinked. "I encouraged them? Hn, that's new news. I'll have to question myself on that later."

Tsunade smacked her head on the desk. "I'm being punished," she whined before falling silent. Several moments passed and she still didn't dismiss them. Finally she sat up straight. "Sasuke, you will speak to Mariemi and inform her you will work for her part-time from eight until noon. After that time, you will report to Kakashi for training, and continue to report to Iruka for your lessons in the evening. Hopefully the constant training will lesson your desire to destroy things." An evil glint passed through Tsunade's eyes. "But first…" She glanced at Shizune and the woman sighed and moved to the door, opening it to call into the hall for the ANBU posted there.

"Granny, what the hell?" Naruto demanded as the ANBU grabbed _him_ as well.

"The four of you are a team; therefore the four of you may as well go to jail together." Tsunade said. "You'll be there for a week, and hopefully you'll cool off by the time you get out."

Sakura fainted and Kakashi caught her. "Finally, a vacation," Kakashi seemed to be grinning behind that mask. "Free food, less insanity." Tsunade had _no_ clue what the heck Kakashi was talking about.

"And you cannot have your novels in prison!" Tsunade hissed.

Kakashi chuckled. "What would I need a novel for? I'll have all the amusement I want in person."

Tsunade paled. "You're a bad man, Kakashi…" she said.

"I wasn't talking about gay sex," Kakashi said with annoyance lacing his voice. "I have a few acquaintances in the jail system."

"I'll bet you do," Sasuke muttered darkly.

xXx

That was how Sakura ended up in prison. Because Naruto and Sasuke had to fight, Sakura ended up in the section of the large prison devoted to kunoichi. It was definitely not as large as the male portion of the prison, but she was surprised to see how many kunoichi were in jail. She guessed there had to be at least a hundred.

She groaned as she put on the ordinary gray cotton sweat pants and the white cotton tee. She was given white socks and tennis shoes without laces. After she was dressed, she was taken to her cell, which she would share with another person. The person was small and lay with their back to Sakura as she was brought into the cell, lying on the top bunk of the bed.

Sakura looked at the cell. It looked _lived in_, so she guessed the other girl had been there for a while. A white sheet was propped up on the edge of the bed and across to the wall where it seemed to have been taped to the wall, creating something of privacy for the toilet. Other than a sink, the toilet and bunk bed were the only things in the cell. However, there was a few children's books that Sakura remembered from her own childhood, as well as copies of the romance novels that Kakashi read.

The novels and books were arranged on the bottom bunk, and instead of a regular gray standard issue prison blanket, the girl had a nice white blanket with tiny orange flowers stamped on. For a moment, Sakura stood by the cell door uncertainly, at least until the guard rapped noisily on the cell bars with her baton and yelled, "Get up, demon!"

The girl in the bed sat up and Sakura gasped. She couldn't be older than eight years old! She turned her childish, chocolate brown eyes on Sakura and then looked at the guard in confusion. She quickly climbed down from the bunk, her orange kimono wrinkled in many places and her long black hair mussed. A clump of hair was kept up in a rubber band off to the side of her head, almost randomly.

"Move the books," the guard said. "She's only in for a week, so don't get too attached." The girl nodded and started tossing the books onto the floor. By the time she was done, the cell was a mess and the guard was gone.

Sakura was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that there was an eight year old child in prison. An eight year old child who read romance novels that were written for adults? Sakura didn't understand…

"My name's Rin!" the girl chirped. "What's your name?"

"Um, Haruno, Sakura," Sakura responded.

"You smell nice." Rin said. "You know it's almost breakfast time! After that, they let everyone out to play in the yard! Do you want to see my garden?"

Sakura blinked at the innocent little girl. "Um, sure," she said.

"Do you start all your sentences with 'um' or are you nervous? I'm not nervous. I know you're a good person, because you smell like Kyuubi-sama!" Sakura's jaw dropped. She _smelled_ like the demon who killed all those people? She was definitely going to change her shampoo.

xXx

Naruto blinked at his cell mate. Dressed in something so far from orange, he felt almost naked. His cell mate cast a disinterested glance at him before pushing his glasses further up his nose and returning to his book. The cover of the book read, "Chess for Idiots."

"You can have the top bunk," his cell mate said. "If you can't stay still up there at night, I'll slice you to ribbons."

Naruto winced slightly. "But, weapons aren't allowed in prison…" he trailed off when the man held up the book he was reading, then tore out a page. Naruto watched as the paper seemed to fold itself like origami and shaped a kunai, without help from the man. Then the man threw the knife at the stone wall and the paper kunai embedded itself hilt-deep into the stone.

Naruto gulped down a lump in his throat. "Um… I think I'll sleep on the floor," he suggested.

"Nonsense," the man said almost cheerfully. "Climb up there."

"I… The floor is comfortable…" Naruto tried again.

The man's cheer faded almost as if he had taken on an alternate personality. Naruto wasn't sure he liked how this man could so quickly change personalities. "Climb up there." He ordered. Naruto scurried up to the top bunk and sat stock still. He could hear the man had gone back to his book.

'I hope I survive this week,' Naruto thought, too nervous to move a finger.

xXx

Sasuke glared at his cell mate. Tsunade was a funny, _funny_ woman, and she didn't even know it. His cell mate was none other than Kakashi, and since Kakashi wasn't himself, that meant his cell mate was actually Itachi, because Itachi was currently disguised as Kakashi for unknown reasons.

Itachi sat down on the bottom bunk. "Go ahead and take the top. I won't murder you in your sleep." Itachi said.

"You take the top," Sasuke said seriously. "So if you start coming at me, I'll have a warning."

Itachi glared at the younger Uchiha. "I'll fight you for it," he told his brother. "I don't sleep on top bunks."

Sasuke didn't back down. "You do now," he said daringly.

Itachi hissed, "I never promised I wouldn't kill you if you were _awake_."

"Then you'd have to live with everyone believing _Kakashi_ killed me. You wouldn't want to give him that credit, would you?" Sasuke replied.

Itachi's black eye flashed red for a moment before he relaxed on the _bottom_ bunk. "I'm taking the bottom bunk. You'll take the top bunk. Unless you want to accidentally commit suicide. It isn't like anyone would look twice at your suicide, since I do appear to be Kakashi."

"Who appears to be Kakashi?" squealed a male in falsetto from the next cell over.

"No one!" Sasuke and Itachi yelled back in unison.

A few moments of silence passed and Sasuke simply gave in and jumped up onto the top bunk, settling in. After a few more minutes, Sasuke leaned over the edge of the bunk to see his brother lying on the bottom bunk with his hands folded behind his head and one ankle crossed over the other.

Itachi looked completely comfortable in their surroundings. He didn't have the forehead protector; instead a gray cloth covered his left eye just as his forehead protector had once done, and he had a gray mask now instead of the usual black one.

"How did you get them to let you keep the mask?" he asked. All four of them had every personal item taken away. Sasuke knew how Itachi had gotten them to let him have the gray cloth to cover his left eye; if he really were Kakashi and the eye were uncovered, it would be a ready-weapon. But the mask, Sasuke didn't understand that part.

"Every time I've taken the mask off, I've been jumped by men and women alike. It's kind of creepy. So, I just told them if they wanted the mask, they could die for it." Itachi closed his eyes and yawned beneath the mask.

"You mean," Sasuke blinked, "You actually have taken it off?"

Itachi shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"

"And no one recognized you?" he asked. Underneath that mask, he was sure Itachi looked like Itachi, not Kakashi, because if Sasuke didn't know what his teacher looked like, how could Itachi?

"I look like Kakashi, if that's what you're asking." Itachi said.

From the next cell over, the male squealed, "You look like Kakashi, so that means you must _be_ Kakashi! Ahh!" He shouted loudly, "Everybody! I'm in the cell next to Kakashi! Oooh, this is so exciting!"

Sasuke blinked again. "What does Kakashi _look_ like under that mask?" he whispered as males all around seemed to start cheering or else yelling for silence.

"You don't know?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "We tried to find out once, but he thwarted all our efforts." He was wondering how many people in Konoha had the name Kakashi, and if these prisoners were squealing over the same Kakashi they were talking about.

"Curiosity kills, you know," Itachi said, not removing the mask. Sasuke gave up on that and shifted into a semi-relaxed position on the bed. He wasn't entirely comfortable with his brother beneath him but he obviously didn't have too much of a choice in the matter.

"What did you do with that heart?" Sasuke asked quietly, closing his eyes.

"It is safe," Itachi said. "Where it is does not matter."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you having it," Sasuke admitted.

"Then I guess you're screwed, because I have it." Itachi told his brother and Sasuke allowed a sigh to escape him. That was the end of their conversation.

* * *

**This is just incredibly popular...Thanks!! **Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I was thinking of murdering the whole village... you have given me much to consider), nightshadow04 (good idea... you won't have to unsay something you never said), KuroxTenshi (-grin-), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 28 after I posted chapter 29. 

ANSWER: Sasuke and Naruto really should learn to control their tempers. Shinobi tantrums are dangerous! Unless I can get another chapter completed this afternoon, there will be no more updates until I finish my HP7.

_"Dance then wherever you may be, I am the lord of the dance," said he, "and I'll lead you all wherever you may be and I'll lead you all in the dance," said he. He also said to review!_


	30. Doggy Delivery

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. I could put whatever I wanted here and you'd probably never notice... Hmm... _

* * *

Chapter 30: Doggy Delivery

"Rin, wait up!" Sakura huffed, trying to catch up to the very fast, very barefoot child. Rin's feet were so dirty it was almost as though they had never seen soap and water. They had been let out of the prison and into a fenced-in enclosure with all the other women. She found her previous estimation to be fairly accurate; there were just over one-hundred women in the enclosure.

"Come on," Rin cheered, headed toward the very back of the enclosure. Sakura finally caught up when the child had stopped. Sakura looked at the patch of dirt in front of her. Interestingly enough, it was impressive what the little girl had done. She had summer flowers growing, and they were very well-kempt.

"Wow," Sakura breathed, amazed that such a beautiful (though tiny) garden could exist in such a terrible place as prison. Of course, her surprise instantly ended when she asked herself why a child would be in prison, and decided there was no longer any logic in the world.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Rin asked, bouncing happily on the balls of her feet. She beamed up at Sakura, and Sakura just didn't know how to respond to her cheer.

Her face scrunching up in confusion, Sakura asked, "Rin, why are you here?" she waved to their surroundings—the fence, the security guards with projectile weaponry on the walls, even her own dull uniform—and Rin shrugged.

"Rin doesn't understand why." The girl said, reverting to speaking in third person though the whole morning she'd spoken in first. "Rin only doesn't like when the bad men hurt her, so she stays a good girl."

Sakura's jaw dropped so far it creaked. She dropped to her knees in front of the child and looked in the eyes of the small girl. "Rin, do the guards hurt you?" she demanded. Oh, if they did, Sakura would definitely be taking this very _interesting_ information to Tsunade. "Do they hit you?"

Rin looked shyly at her feet, folded her hands behind her back, and scuffed the ground with a dirty toe. "Rin does not like to talk about it. Rin wants to go home."

"It's okay, Rin," Sakura said, reaching out to the child. She wanted to comfort Rin, and a sort of motherly feeling was swelling in her gut. "I'm only here for a week, but I'll speak to Tsunade-sama for you and get you out of here! Until then, I'll protect you from the guards!"

Rin sniffled and then flung her small form at Sakura, hugging the pink-haired girl so tight, Sakura could swear she heard bones crackling. "I knew you were a good lady. No one who smells like Kyuubi-sama can be a bad person!"

"Hey-o, Rin!" called a masculine voice a few moments later. Instinctively, Sakura held the child tighter, but Rin poked her head up and a bright smile appeared on her face. "Hey-o, Hey-o!" the voice called again. "Hey-o, Rin nana kotronda!"

Sakura swiveled her head toward where the masculine voice had come from. She didn't exactly understand what the heck the person had said, except that they were addressing Rin. The language he spoke wasn't hers though if Sakura hazarded a guess, the child appeared to understand just fine.

"Nana kotronda be quia so faw min da, Hey-o," Rin said in response, pulling away from Sakura to present a flowery bow to the man waving on the other side of the fence. There were several people all in a group on the other side, waving to Rin and looking fairly cheerful (odd, considering they were in prison).

"Sika?" a second man asked, jutting his chin at Sakura. Sakura was just guessing, but it almost sounded like he was asking, 'Who is that?' or something of that nature.

"Na-meko!" Rin grabbed Sakura's hand and moved closer to the fence, but she remained behind a white line painted on the ground, going no closer to the fence than the white line. It appeared the white line was the boundary of the prison yard; anyone beyond that would be in trouble. "Sakura, dibotap! Ip yi ip!"

"Gi-vi-ta," groused one man in the back of the bunch. "Si-pata Kyo? Kyuubi fesuahta gunde visto kakpa?"

Thoroughly confused, Sakura held her tongue, confused by the language they were speaking. She understood very little, except that apparently she had been mentioned, and somehow, Kyuubi was mentioned, unless her name and the fox's name were both a completely different word and meaning in their language.

So instead, she peered through the wires of the fence, looking at the men. There were five total, and each of them had hair in differing shades of red. Tattoos littered their flesh, ranging from lightning-like stripes to perfect circles. Their eyes were as green as Sakura's were, except the first one who had eyes of a similar color to oxygenated blood. All of them had their hair cropped short, and the short, straight hair did nothing to hide the fact that two of them had pointed, elf-like ears, and three of them had wiggling fox-ears atop their head.

One similar tattoo they all shared was around their right upper arm. While all their other tattoos were in almost random colors, the particular tattoo in question was two rings forming an 'x' in front and (Sakura guessed) an 'x' also in the back. She was guessing on that by judging how the rings were tilted upward.

As one grinned a rather devious—or evil?—smirk at something Rin said, whatever it was that the girl jabbered off, Sakura could see incredibly obvious _fangs_ sticking out of that pink-lipped mouth. All of them had pale skin, despite that they went shirtless and wore only the gray bottoms of the uniform.

After a long, confusing conversation that Sakura really wished she could understand, Rin turned to Sakura in excitement. "They said that Kyo-sama is here!" Rin began giggling.

"Kyo-sama?" Sakura had no clue who that was, what they did wrong to get in prison, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know either. She'd never met anyone named 'Kyo' to her knowledge, and figured someone would have to be mad to name their kid that. It was such a simple name!

"Uh, huh!" Rin nodded solemnly, but simultaneously remained giggling. "And guess what! Kyo-sama smells like Kyuubi too. Riba," Rin pointed to the red-eyed character on the other side of the fence, "said he passed Kyo-sama on the way out, and that Kyo-sama is in their playground!"

"_Their_ playground?" Sakura was confused more than ever before. They weren't in a 'playground' they were in a fenced-in prison yard. Of course, leave it to a child to make an understatement out of anything…

"Yup! There's three playgrounds," Rin explained. "Kyo-sama, Riba, and the others are in the one next to us on this side," she pointed to the far side of the 'playground' that Riba was in, "and on that side are more people."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the third prison yard and saw that most of the people in _that_ one looked like petty thieves, of male gender. Another look at the yard in the middle—Riba's playground—showed all the eyes of hardened killers. There were more security guards watching that yard than the female yard or the other yard.

'I so do not want to know if my speculations are right,' Sakura thought miserably. She really wished Naruto and Sasuke hadn't gotten into that fight. And what was with Kakashi? What did he mean he knew people in the prison system? This wasn't exactly a world class vacation site. When she was seven, she took a tour of the prison and knew then and there that she did not want to return.

And Kakashi went and said it would be a vacation? Sakura wasn't sure yet, but she almost would rather face the frightening bore in training ground 13.

"Kyo gact volundinare vi stanik ga lingi," one of the guys said.

"Yip yip!" Rin chirped, nodding. She grabbed Sakura's hand and began following the fence line, as did the five male prisoners. Sakura had no choice but to follow, or else be rude and hurt Rin's feelings. After saying she would protect Rin, Sakura's only option was the former. "They're going to go talk to Kyo-sama! Come on, we'll watch!"

As Sakura was dragged along, she asked, "What's so special about this person?"

Rin spoke with a bounce in each step for every syllable, "Kyo-sama saved us all from the monster! After that, we were brought here, but Rin doesn't know why. We know when Kyuubi-sama gets free, we'll all go home again, so we're waiting for Kyuubi-sama."

If Sakura thought she couldn't be more shocked (and unnerved, and scared, and a thousand other unnamable emotions) than she had been when Naruto said he saw Kyuubi, she was proven wrong. She stared at the little girl's back. She wasn't entirely sure she understood the thought forming in her mind, but it was there casting its shadow on her.

'When Kyuubi gets free?' her mind screamed a warning at her. Did this _child_ know Kyuubi? But that was impossible! He attacked over fifteen years ago, so the little girl couldn't _possibly_ know the demon… but she knew what he smelled like? And she knew that Sakura smelled like the demon? Was it some sort of sick joke? _Kyuubi_ was the monster… wasn't he?

And then the child had stopped so fast, Sakura had to duck to the side to avoid running into her. She squinted at the fence and then only a minute later, squealed, "There he is!" She was jumping up and down, clapping her hands happily and trying to point to someone in the distance at the same time. "That's Kyo-sama!" She calmed down slightly and squinted a little more. "He kind of… looks… younger…"

Sakura watched the group of red-headed men as they approached a rather handsome blond… 'Wait a minute,' Sakura thought, gulping. 'That's Naruto, not… whoever they think it is…' She leaned closer to the fence, trying to hear what was being said, but they were too far away.

All the confusion was starting to make her head spin.

xXx

Four people were on duty in the Konohagakure mail acceptance office that Friday. Katry Bella was first shift manager. She was always careful to treat her patrons and staff with the same courtesy, so it was just another Friday like all other Fridays.

People came with their packages, and then left. And as always, Friday was the delivery day for the Inozuka clan. Katry was waiting for the Inozuka delivery dogs to come to retrieve the weekly animal hospital packages. Unlike all other Fridays however, the dogs were late in coming, so Katry hadn't left even though her shift had ended and it was four o'clock in the afternoon.

Second shift manager Cindy Vargus was already working, and second shift assistant manager Benji Grout was out with the flu, leaving the two second shift regular employees to struggle with the overflow that Benji would have dealt with as the evening turned to night and many people got off work and went on their evening errands.

Benji's absence was another reason why Katry volunteered to stay later than usual, becoming a regular employee for a few hours and letting Cindy take charge. Because of this, Cindy agreed to let Katry deal with the Inozuka dogs when they came instead of attempting to do so herself, since Cindy had no experience dealing with the nin-dogs.

It was almost 4:10 before two unusually large dogs stopped in front of the mail acceptance office with large buggies hitched to each of them, and in the back of each buggy was a giant five-by-five crate.

Katry felt a smile tug at her lips. They were late, but she supposed there was a good reason for it. Those crates looked fairly heavy, and Katry wondered if they would have to get additional help removing them from the buggies and wondered where they were being delivered.

"Are those the delivery dogs?" Cindy asked incredulously, staring out the freight door at the massive dogs and the horse buggies they were attached to.

Katry chuckled. "I believe so!" she chirped. "They're not the usual dogs that come, though. Anyway, do you think I could borrow Mick and Jack a moment? I'll probably need help getting the crates down."

Cindy nodded, "Go ahead," she said. "I wonder what's in them." She mused aloud before going to where Mick and Jack were standing.

Katry moved toward the entrance to the freight dock, but something about the dogs began to confuse her, or perhaps she was beginning to feel unsettled by them, she wasn't sure. Still, she approached the dogs with a bright smile and watched as golden eyes followed her approach. "Good evening," she said to the dogs. "What's that you got there?"

The response she expected wasn't what she got, and the response she did get was something that frightened her. "Two crates to be received by Fire." The dog on the right said almost excitedly. Katry backed away nervously. She'd _never_ in all her twenty-two years living heard a dog _talk_.

The dog on the left said more calmly than the first, "Fear not, dear one. We don't bite—well," the dog seemed to smile ironically and sharp canine teeth protruded from its mouth, "we won't bite _you_ anyway, right, Avei?"

The other dog appeared to be too interested in looking everywhere else, his tail wagging and his tongue lolling as the golden eyes tried to take in everything. "I smell _food_, big brother!" The dog, Avei, said. "Do you think someone has left-overs?"

The other dog rolled his golden eyes skyward and shook his head, large floppy ears flapping back and forth. Then he blew heavily out of his nose and looked once more at the frightened first shift manager. "We will be on our way once you remove the harnesses. Avei! Stand still!" he growled at the other dog.

Instantly the other dog stood stock still, but his eyes continued to try taking in the streets around him. For several minutes, Katry didn't know what to do. She was sure that the Inozuka dogs did not speak the human tongue. Granted, she had only had the job for three years, but three years was a very long time to her.

Finally Mick and Jack moved to stand next to Katry, and Mick waved a hand in front of her face. "You okay, miss?" he asked. His action caused the dogs to growl, and Mick looked at the dogs, blinking. "Wow, those are some big dogs," he said.

"_Remove_ your _hand_ from the _female_, **human**," said the calmer of the two dogs in a very cold voice.

Jack was backing away, fearful. "D-d… d…" he began, his entire being shaking. Then, he turned and ran into the building, screaming, "_YOUKAI DOGS!_ Run for your lives!"

The excitable dog barked twice before saying, "Mangy _coward_! Come back and say that to my face!" People were not only skirting around the acceptance office, but it appeared that customers were even deciding that they would return on another day, turning around in the midst of the crowded street and heading home with their packages.

The calmer dog sighed heavily before snapping his massive maw at the excitable dog. He caught the dog by the ear and earned a whine out of the dog for his efforts. "Shut up, Avei." He groused. "You _are_ a youkai."

The excitable dog bowed his head in apology and said, "I guess I got a little carried away."

"Indeed," the other one snorted heavily. He looked at Katry again and said, "Send the male away and come remove the harnesses, please."

Katry nervously went to do as she was bid, not wanting to anger these dogs.

xXx

Tsunade blinked as she received a strange visitor at quarter to five that Friday. It was someone she had never met, a young girl who worked as a manager in the post office, and behind her were several of the masked ANBU members, maneuvering into the room with large wooden crates.

She was curious what was going on, but for a few minutes she remained silent as the crates were brought in and set in an out-of-the-way area of the large room. Tsunade thanked the heavens that the doors to Hokage tower were all doubled, otherwise the span would be too small to fit those big boxes.

Finally, the majority of the ANBU members left, leaving only those who had been _in_ the room to begin with, with the addition of the young manager of course. Tsunade glanced at the half-drunk Jiraiya for two seconds before deciding he did not need to be present. "Shizune, take Jiraiya home," she told her assistant.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said, guiding the somewhat tipsy old man out.

Two ANBU were stationed at the door. Tsunade looked at them, "One of you please go inform the Council of Elders that I will be a few moments, but that they are to wait for me in the council room." One of them immediately trotted off. Finally Tsunade looked at the nervous manager and waved for her to have a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

When the girl had settled herself, Tsunade inquired as to the nature of the visit and asked about the crates. The girl responded with, "It's not the crates that bother me, or the reason that I've brought them here. It's the nature of their delivery that has me unnerved, Hokage-sama."

"I see," Tsunade said, looking at the boxes curiously. "And how were they delivered?"

"They were brought by two _really_ large dogs, Hokage-sama," she squeaked.

"This is not surprising. The Inozuka clan has very large dogs and those dogs are trained to do a multitude of things—one such thing is delivery." Tsunade replied, still wondering what was in the boxes.

"Yes, yes, I know," the manager said. "But none of the Inozuka dogs _talk_, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade knew her surprise showed on her face. She couldn't help it. It was shocking information. Perhaps not that the dogs couldn't talk, but that the dogs who delivered the large crates _did_ talk. "Talk, you say?" Tsunade asked, standing and moving to the crates. Behind her, the girl burst into explanation of all that had happened in the last hour—how she had been waiting, then how the dogs came, and she even mentioned how the dogs were acting throughout the whole time—but for the most part, Tsunade tuned it out once she saw the top of one of the boxes.

She took out a kunai and used the sharp edge to cut the plastic protecting the envelope on the top box. "Hatake, Kakashi," it read in the addressee spot. In the addresser spot it read, "Higurashi, Kagome," but there was no address on the addressee or the addresser spot.

"Kagome," Tsunade breathed, and waved a brief dismissal to the girl. She fled as quickly as she could. Then Tsunade wondered if she ought to bust the top off or get a crowbar. Either way, she was opening the box whether or not Kakashi approved of it. Yes, it was an invasion of privacy, but honestly, she wanted to know _more_ about the mysterious subordinate who thought of prison as a vacation. And asking him would yield _nothing_.

She opened the letter and read the contents. It was mostly just a natural letter inquiring on his return trip from escorting her. She thanked him for the escort, and for saving her life from the rogue ninja. Then it led into a request that Kakashi keep hold of the contents of the box.

However, there was an additional letter inside the first one, addressed to _Naruto_ of all people. Tsunade tore open that one and read it, confused as to why Naruto would get a letter. It was short and simple.

"Dear Naruto," it read, "thank you again for helping me on the mountain, and for escorting me back home. I just wanted to tell you I've come to a decision in the last few days concerning the question you asked me. The answer is yes. But there is one condition: You need permission from Hokage-sama. Becoming a Summoner isn't easy, but if it is what you want, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha said they don't have any problems if I teach you."

Tsunade's heart skipped a beat and she looked around the room before she realized what she was doing. When she noticed her actions, she scolded herself mentally. The council wasn't anywhere near—there was only the single ANBU member in the room, and they were standing at attention at the door. She didn't have to worry about the council knowing what was in the letter.

She looked back at the letter, re-reading from the beginning and then continuing on. It was clear that somehow Naruto had learned about Summoners, but he _couldn't_ have… could he? Maybe it was during the escort trip. The council wouldn't be very happy if they found out that Naruto had the opportunity to be a Summoner.

"There are several tests," Kagome wrote, "before I can teach you if Hokage-sama gives you permission to learn. You've already passed the first test, even if you did it accidentally. The jewel I was wearing under my clothes that you asked about is called the Shikon no Tama. It's used to tell whether or not someone can see the Rip-Threads. If you can see the glow of the jewel that means you can see the Rip-Threads, and seeing the Rip-Threads allows you to perform _koumajutsu_."

Tsunade's jaw dropped, and again she looked around the room subconsciously checking for the council. On the inside, she was torn. She was glad that Kagome would leave it to _her_ to decide, but at the same time, she didn't want to be the one to make that decision. Ultimately, her decision could only _be_ no because the Council of Elders would never allow for it.

"I won't say any more about it, but if the Hokage-sama gives you permission to learn, you can come to the Yobidasu shrine. Also, as I was cleaning out the shrine, I found a case with your name on it and though I find it strange that he would write to you, a letter for you from my father. I sent the case to Kakashi-kun so he can give it to you. Once more, thanks for all your help! With Love, Kagome."

Tsunade debated her options. Kakashi was in jail, so therefore all his mail would be confiscated anyway if it were a real jail situation. He couldn't complain, right?

She looked at the ANBU and said, "Get me a crowbar."

* * *

**Thanks to everyone for your reviews! We broke 250!! **sn1ck3rD00dl3 (I'm glad you liked it. I don't know how long it will be. Apparently Koumajutsu has turned into my next TMttF story, since I'm near done with that one...-sob- I didn't mean for that to happen), money apple, Hiei's Cute Girl (another of my regular stalkers has come to Koumajutsu! You'll get your answers in future chapters, just not this one apparently), supersillee06 (I love Fuyumi, and have lots of great things planned for her...like...Gaara? Oops, you didn't hear that...shh, don't tell anyone), Watashi No sukinahito (There will be future Sakura/Naruto scenes, but it is not a Sakura/Naruto story), Dark Inu Fan (I actually thought about skipping the week in jail and just summing it up, but your review made me feel obligated to write it. Not that I mind!), Kagome Lady of Darkness, scione (yes, come back!), nightshadow04 (-scratches chin thoughtfully- interesting you say?), KibaSin (Oh, not much happens except a hundred thousand people dying...just kidding...or am I?), ADD Kyuubi Naruto (hope you liked it), angelwings39 (did you call me "Poop Head"? Oh well, in response to your chapter 27 review, I suppose I can tell you that much. Kakashi is 29, and Kagome is 15. They will not be paired together.), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (you'll find out the reason why she's there soon enough), KuroxTenshi (brotherly love...ahhh...), Ichihime (then I shall have to do more scenes for you, eh?), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 29 after I posted chapter 30. 

ANSWER: I just want everyone to know that the language being spoken by Rin and the others is not a real language. It is simply my incredibly vain attempt at randomizing letters into some semblance of order so that it looks like a cool non-human language.

_Time will leave us behind, don't fear her, do be brave, you must hold your head up high. There's no reason to stop, to worry, to tremble, or to think of turning back (or not reviewing!)._


	31. Huro's Video

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. This is not a Naruto/Kagome story._

* * *

Chapter 31: Huro's Video

She had dismissed the ANBU and now sat alone in the room, staring at the crowbar that sat so innocently on her desktop. She was at a crossroads as the Hokage, debating whether or not to open the crates addressed to Kakashi and find whatever it was Kagome's father left for _Naruto_. Honestly, Tsunade had no clue who Kagome's father even was. As far as she knew it was just another person who had been born in Sound country.

Hell, for all Tsunade knew, Kagome's father could have been Orochimaru, except that she did know Kagome's father was dead and Orochimaru was still at large. No matter _who_ her father was, the man shouldn't know Naruto enough to think to leave something for him, should he? Naruto had traveled around, but only the Yobidasu knew how to get to their shrine. There was supposed to be some sort of special trick to getting there, so no matter what, there could not have been a way for Naruto to accidentally come across _whoever it was_ to make a lasting impression.

Furthermore, Naruto's association with the Yobidasu was forbidden by the council. He wasn't even supposed to know they existed! The council had been furious just knowing that Naruto had been allowed alone with Kagome.

She sighed. She had a very difficult decision to make. On the one hand, she didn't give a damn if Naruto started Summoning or joined the Yobidasu clan. Sure, she was afraid of a repeat of the Kyuubi incident like they all were, but Naruto wasn't a monster. He was... he was Naruto.

A smile crossed Tsunade's face as she remembered the first time she ever met the boy. She had been quite impressed when he kept his promise to master the Rasengan in a week. He nearly died, but he did it. Only a few days later, he wore Tsunade's old necklace with pride in every step, telling anyone who would listen the story of how he won it from 'Granny Tsunade'.

In her eyes, the blue-eyed-freak known to most as Uzumaki, Naruto was just another hyperactive kid who deserved a chance to show the world what he could do. Sometimes he really was a little brat and annoyed the hell out of her (like when he decided to destroy half an apartment complex) but that wasn't _so_ bad. The apartment complex was scheduled for demolition the next summer anyway. The boy had just saved the effort of eviction notices and most demolition costs (and pushed forward new construction).

Really, that apartment complex hadn't been fit for _cockroaches_ much less human habitation. Tsunade always grimaced every time she thought of Naruto actually living there. Sure, when Iruka had shown Tsunade the boy's apartment, it was decent enough. The boy's previous life working for different companies around Konoha had taught him home-construction. He'd fixed up his apartment so it was like new.

Unfortunately, though Naruto had given the place a whole new face after so many years fixing it up, the building it was in was falling apart every where else.

And now, after a two and a half year training journey with Jiraiya, the boy had grown exponentially in strength. He'd grown up some, but he was still just an orphaned kid and he still had a lot more growing up to do. No matter what, Tsunade was _going_ to hand the title of Hokage to Naruto.

Just because the council was afraid Naruto would follow his mother's path didn't mean he _would_. Naruto was dedicated to the people of Konoha (most especially to Ichiraku Ramen where he spent most of his paychecks since he became a Genin).

Tsunade just couldn't see things from the council's view point, and she was sure that if they ever stopped to take a minute and _talk_ to Naruto, they would change their minds. But when they looked at the boy, they saw only Kyuubi.

She sighed. The council _was_ the 'other hand' to the scenario. If it weren't for them, she would simply tell Naruto to pack his bags right then and there. She would never hold him back, no matter how much she came to care about him.

She shook her head slightly. She wasn't going to tell the council about anything. She picked up the phone, her fingers hovering over the dial pad. She did want to know what was inside the crates, and she did want to know what was left for Naruto, but something told her it wasn't a bad or a dangerous thing at all. She wouldn't risk Naruto being upset with her by going through any more of his belongings than she'd already done by reading the letter.

She would have the ANBU deliver the crates to Kakashi's house for him to find when he finished his week-sentence.

A loud CREEE- noise shook her out of her thoughts and she instantly whipped her head around to view the crates. The crowbar was moving on its own and the phone slipped out of her fingers to clatter to the floor. She watched in both shocked horror and amazement as the crowbar flitted around the crates, prying the tops carefully off of both before some sort of invisible _something_ dug around in the boxes and pulled out a very large metal suitcase. The case seemed to float out of the box. It set down on Tsunade's desk and the lock on the case whirled until the numbers stopped. **7-3-0-8-4-6-9-1**.

With a light click, the lock turned and the two safety latches on the side popped open. The top of the case lifted up to show a padded interior containing many items latched in place with Velcro straps. She frowned at the case. Never before in her entire life had she witnessed objects moving on their own.

She eyed the objects. One of the items seemed to be a miniature portable computer, and a lot of the other items were just as high-tech as the miniature computer. The items included a strange set of goggles, two strange glass marbles that were the size of golf-balls, five strange computers small as a shuriken and just as round, and a few other interesting gadgets of unknown use. Other things in the case included an operator's manual (apparently for the high-tech computer items), a stack of letters all neatly rubber-banded, a photo album, and a small box that looked as though it could be a music box only it had no winder.

Taped to the top of the box was an envelope addressed to Naruto with no labels other than that.

_The council is on their way_, Tsunade heard the quiet whisper in her mind and started so bad she fell out of her chair. Her eyes darted to all sides of the room, searching for the perpetrator who had invaded the room without her consent but no one was there. It took her a minute to realize she hadn't actually heard the voice with her ears.

"Who's there?" she asked, still trying to find them.

Then, to her amazement (and somewhat fear), she saw the Velcro straps holding the miniature portable computer in place being pulled apart and lifted out of the case. She heard laughter as the invisible being opened the case to reveal a monitor and a strange keypad unlike anything she'd ever seen.

_ I would think a smart, good-looking chit like yourself would have realized already that I am Kyuubi. Don't prove me wrong, now, darling._ The voice in her head mocked her.

"K-Kyuubi!" she exclaimed, a small tremor crawling up her spine.

_The one and only,_ the voice chuckled. _I knew you were smart. _

She didn't question whether or not she was mad. She'd heard from many sources that Kyuubi was a telepath, and she wasn't going to question that ability after seeing a case float like it had done.

"What do you mean the council is on their way?" Tsunade asked, attempting to put the computer back in the case and hide the case. She really didn't want the council to know anything about the case. Something stopped her, though. She felt a sharp tap on her knuckles and pulled her hands back.

_I mean to say I made sure they know you have some interesting things here, and I want them to know about them. Naruto _will_ be mine, and I have every intention of showing the council exactly that._ Kyuubi sounded nothing more than amused as he spoke.

"But if they find out," Tsunade insisted, wondering why she was arguing with him.

_I am a patient youkai. I have lived over nine-hundred years and fifteen of them have been spent in a cage. I can wait a few more if I must, but I want the council to know exactly how fast things are spiraling out of their control. Naruto _will_ Summon and when he does, I will wear five liar's tongues on a string around my neck. And I want to test _you_ to see just how far I can push you until you snap. _

Kyuubi seemed to disappear after that, but the monitor on the computer shone blue for a split second and then the council was in the room. Two seconds later, a picture of a man appeared on the screen with bloodied, scruffy blond hair and dark blue eyes exactly the same shade as Kagome's. He had only one arm and one leg, but he seemed to operate just fine without because he was currently chaining himself to a sturdy stone wall.

Tsunade didn't respond to the council's inquiries. She was instantly captivated by the screen, so much that she could not move. The council made their way around the desk and all five members peered at the image. They could hear the clinking of the chains as he secured himself.

Finally he turned to the camera and sighed.

"'Ullo, Naruto," he said, his voice heavily accented so his 'r's were rolling and his low voice seemed to have a distinct impressionable lilt to it. "You probably do not remember me. The last time we saw each other, you only came up to my knee and you were taken from me by the Shen clan witch so I would bet anything that your memories of me were repressed and sealed. Since you can not remember me, I am sure you are curious who I am, or even more importantly, who _you_ are.

"This information has been kept from you since birth by order of the Konohagakure Council of Elders who fear what you may become. I do not have a lot of time, but I will try to answer some of the questions I know you will have. Before I married into the Higurashi clan, my name was Huro Guro and I was informally adopted into the Uzumaki clan. That is right, you are sole heir to the Uzumaki clan. Of course, there is not much to inherit. Your family never had a whole lot other than distinctive bright blue eyes and the bright blond hair.

"This makes me your uncle. I do not know very much about your mother's bloodline, except that she was born in Konoha, but of your father, I certainly know. He gave his life to save you and his people. His name was Kyo. I am very sure that the council has put a taboo on any mention of this information. The Four Goddesses all know I have tried endless times to contact you and bring you to live with me.

"Two weeks ago, I sent two of my best Akatsuki members to kidnap you. Yes, I had to go _that_ far just to contact you. Very soon you should be meeting them, if you have not already. They go by the names Itachi and Kisame. However, even if they succeed, I fear there is nothing for you to come to. You will not be meeting me, and I am deeply sorry for that.

"I have had a contact watching over you in Konohagakure. He volunteered to do it because you and he had some things in common. He is not a member of the Yobidasu, but I do wish he had been. He is a loyal, dedicated man and he has grown up well. Likewise, he has used the money I sent him to put you through school at the academy and he has brought you up to be a fine young man. I am proud of you. I have heard tales of your accomplishments all the way up north.

"I know you are wondering why I have chained myself up. This brings me directly into our most important topic. You cannot change the past, Naruto, so whatever you see in this video has already taken place. I know how things look with the goggles on, and that is why you need to remember this has already happened.

"Take a look around you." the screen remained focused on the man speaking. "What you are seeing is the carnage left behind when _koumajutsu_ goes bad. It does not happen often, but as you can see, the end result is deadly. One of my people went mad and slaughtered almost everyone. When she got to me, she performed a Level Six Summoning on me. Level Six is forbidden because it requires a human sacrifice. Nothing I can say will prepare you for what you will see me become… the very reason I have chained myself up. I only pray these thick chains will be enough to hold until Itachi and Kisame return to kill me.

"My daughter Kagome and my niece Sango are still alive. I need you to promise you will look after Kagome. Right now she is being taken care of by an old pupil of your father's, but after that, I fear for her safety. My student can only do so much and I understand that. You, on the other hand, have the right to demand fair treatment to Kagome. You're the heir to the Uzumaki clan. If you call for it, the Clan Council will convene and hear your demands. You can bring Kagome into Konohagakure _safely_ if the Clan Council overrules the Council of Elder's decision. I know it sounds like an awful bit of a mess, but Kagome is not a fighter. She cooks, dances, and plays music. She wasn't trained to be strong on the battlefield like my niece.

"Please, Naruto. You can do this. All you need to do is talk to Kakashi Hatake or Iruka Umino. Either of them would be willing to help you convene the Clan Council, and I know after all you have accomplished, there is no way the clan heads would ignore you! Your father could not leave you much, but he left you the Uzumaki clan," he groaned and started seizing up. Then the moment passed and he breathed heavily before continuing.

"You have the nine-tails fox sealed inside you, Naruto. Follow the instructions in my letter and release the fox. I know you can use _koumajutsu_. After having the nine-tails sealed in you all these years, there is no way you could not. Release the fox and let him return to his world. If you do not release the fox," again he started seizing up, but it didn't stop this time. Instead, he grew silent and horns grew out of his head. His body turned a sick shade of gray and a clawed arm grew from his empty socket. A deformed leg grew and his clothing began ripping more than it was already.

When his body finished shifting, all that was left was a frightening, drooling, snarling creature that tried to break the bonds restraining it. Tsunade's hand darted out and she folded the monitor down again. She was shaking slightly as she rose from her seat, not sure exactly when she sat down in it, and looked at the council.

The five of them had hard looks in their eyes. Xentaro, chairman of the board, reached out and snatched up the computer. "We'll take that!" he said, replacing it in the case and smashing the lid shut. The case locked itself and the dials seemed to spin of their own accord so that the lock code was no longer in.

Then, Xentaro said, "The Yobidasu will _not_ come to Konohagakure. You can tender your resignation all you like, but we will _not_ have that swine here!" After a few seconds, he added, "And if you even _think_ of undermining the Elders, we will have you hanged as a hierophant." He then led the others out and Tsunade's fist smashed down on her desk, breaking the thing in two. Later on, as she had to go through all the papers and miserably reorganize them in piles on the floor, she found the letter from Kagome.

She carefully folded it up and stuffed it down her shirt where it would remain safe until she could give it to Naruto. She stood and went to the window, scowling at the power that Xentaro and the other Elders had over her. They came again thirty minutes later and with the help of some strong young men, the crates were removed from Tsunade's office.

The video hadn't been very informative, and yet, at the same time it said an incredible amount. The petty Council of Elders wasn't going to beat Tsunade, though. No, not this time. She told Kakashi she would get approval, and get it she would…

And Huro, bless that man, had given her a way around the Council of Elders. A smile broke across her face. 'I have two orphans who would automatically be on the Clan Council, don't I?' she thought, thinking of Sasuke and Naruto, both of whom would listen to her. She didn't doubt that if she told Sasuke what was going on, he would agree to allow the Yobidasu to come. He would do _anything_ these days to prove he belonged in Konoha.

So she would just have to manipulate the two boys if it turned out they did not want to agree to the Yobidasu coming and wouldn't convene the council. In all likelihood, though, the boys would not need to be manipulation to do what she wanted.

She peered toward the ground beneath the window and saw the Council of Elders leaving with the crates. Her smile turned into a smirk. 'I hope Kagome is as temperamental as I have been made to believe. She will not like her things being confiscated.'

Convening the Clan Council would be dangerous, however. The Council of Elders _did_ have the backing of most of the city through their preaching about their various deities. If they started labeling her a witch, no force in the whole world would be able to keep Tsunade from the noose.

So she would just have to make sure Naruto and Sasuke knew that they would have to convene the council on their own. She would only be able to nudge them in the right direction.

She began chewing on her lip, thinking, 'Why would Kyuubi want the Council of Elders to know? Why would he go to all that trouble? And why is he pushing me?'

Her mind ran over all the things she learned in that video. She knew why the Yobidasu agreement talks ended. The clan was massacred. That probably scared the Elders into making their hasty decision. Furthermore, the chance that Itachi was still alive had increased since he appeared to be away when the attacks took place. The Elders were afraid of Itachi's return especially since Sasuke was back.

* * *

**Thanks to: **Dark Inu Fan (I think it was good, but I'll let you decide that yourself. After all, you may not like reading what happens in prison), KuroxTenshi (yes, it was), Watashi No Sukinahito, sn1ck3rD00dl3 (I'm glad you like the story and the "Gaara-Lookalikes" as you called them), Ichihime, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Has she redeemed herself?), Kagome Lady of Darkness, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 30 after I posted chapter 31.

ANSWER: I have no answers for you, only questions. Do you think the next chapter will have Naruto in it? Yes or no? The next chapter is already written.

_Watching the world from our window of life can we see all there is that is real that is right...so that we may leave a proper review?!_


	32. Jail Whipping

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. This is not a Naruto/Kagome story._

* * *

Chapter 32: Jail Whipping

Naruto fidgeted nervously in the large yard. 'I will never fight again,' he vowed to himself even though he was damn sure he would never be able to keep that promise. He stood in the prison yard next to his insane cell-mate. He still didn't know the guy's name, so in his mind, he deemed to call the man 'Cutthroat' because he was so scary.

Cutthroat stood stock still in the middle of the yard, staring up at the sky as though it had the key to escape just waiting for him to reach out and grab. Naruto was only still by him because the man had said (in a cheerful voice), "You can stick with me outside."

Naruto considered himself a very brave guy, but he wasn't brave enough to be stupid at that point. He was in jail with a guy who had been put there for a very good reason. There was no question that Cutthroat _belonged_ in a prison cell. Just standing next to him seemed to yield murmured whispers of how Cutthroat had killed sixteen children between ages nine and eleven over the course of two years before he was caught.

Naruto was fairly certain there had been some sort of mix-up in his placement. Why didn't Tsunade put him in a cell with some petty jewel thief or, hell, even with Sasuke? He could have survived that mostly intact. He already had to worry about his sanity in his every day dealings with Sasuke (one of those punches could rattle his brain loose) so why stick him with a murderer?

'There weren't other places,' Naruto assured himself. 'Granny didn't have a choice.' As much as he wanted to believe that, it still sounded like a half-hearted excuse that he couldn't believe.

He glanced around, trying to find Sakura, Sasuke, or Kakashi with his eyes. So far, he hadn't been able to locate them. He hoped if he saw one of them and they saw him, they could rescue him from the insane Cutthroat. It was a sad day when the Great Uzumaki needed rescuing.

Just as he thought that, a voice startled him from his thoughts. He didn't know what the person was saying, but a glance at the speaker proved he was being talked to. After all, one hardly met one person's eyes but addressed another. As the red-headed person (who looked like he could be related to Kyuubi) jabbered off in gibberish, Cutthroat grabbed Naruto's arm and began forcibly dragging him away from the group of red-heads.

"Ow!" Naruto yelped as his arm was yanked. "Leggo, leggo!" he slurred, not realizing his slurred 'Let Go' had translated as 'Help Me' in the foreign language spoken by the five red-heads.

The red-heads didn't hesitate at all before one slugged Cutthroat, another twisted Cutthroat's arm until he let go of Naruto, and a third of the five red-heads drop-kicked Cutthroat sixteen feet away. Needless to say, this caused quite a commotion because Cutthroat retaliated.

The insane child murderer got to his feet and snarled, "That's my brat! Get your own!" Without further ado, he practically sailed toward the group of red-heads and fists were thrown, kicks were given, and pain was dished out freely until the entire middle yard of the prison looked like a battlefield.

People didn't seem to care they could get into trouble for fighting. Some of them joined the throng immediately, others only joined because one of the participants managed to land on them but either way, everyone was fighting. Naruto was forced to defend himself as prisoners withdrew weaponry they weren't supposed to have.

Some people, like Cutthroat, had learned to make weapons out of paper and (Naruto guessed) chakra, and were brandishing kunai and shuriken. Others had gotten a hold of razor edges from who-knew-where. Still others were using raw chakra or pure hand-to-hand combat. The five red-heads were using pure hand-to-hand and completely kicking _everyone's_ ass.

Soon, Naruto found himself with bleeding cuts, bruises, and an ankle that could only be sprained. Then, the prison guard was there to break up the fighting. Hundreds of prison guards waded in and they didn't care _who_ got hit in the process of breaking up the fighting, but very soon everyone was restrained. Naruto didn't know why, but while everyone else was simply put in chakra-and-strength bands that made them too weak to do any more fighting, he was forced to his knees, away from everyone else, and it was difficult to see out of two blackened, puffy eyes.

The prison seemed deadly quiet after the previous noises of battle and the 'fight, fight' cheering of other prisoners in the other enclosures.

"_Someone_ explain to me," shouted a loud guard, presumably the head of the prison guard. "Someone tell me _why_ there is fighting in my prison? Am I unkind? Do I not give you three meals a day? Do I not treat you fairly?"

No body responded to him. Instead, he continued talking.

xXx

Sasuke and Itachi stood back away from the hundreds of prisoners who were eagerly attempting to see the fight. The petty thieves in their enclosure were jeering to the other prisoners, encouraging the fighting to continue on as though it were a form of entertainment they hadn't had in a long while.

Neither of the tall Uchiha boys had difficulty seeing over the heads, despite that Itachi was shorter than usual being disguised as Kakashi. "I can't see Naruto. I thought you said he was in that enclosure," Sasuke said to his brother in a low voice.

"He is there," Itachi growled, his double-Sharingan following the movements of the fight just as Sasuke was using his double-Sharingan. If anyone were to look at 'Kakashi' at that moment, they would notice that he had two Sharingan eyes which wasn't something he was supposed to have. However, no one was paying attention to him—thankfully.

"_Someone_ explain to me," said one guard after the fight was broken up and everyone had fallen silent.

"That's the prison warden." Itachi explained quietly to Sasuke.

"Someone tell me _why_ there is fighting in my prison? Am I unkind? Do I not give you three meals a day? Do I not treat you fairly?" No one answered the warden. "Do I not treat you pathetic prisoners like you are worth more than you really are?" He asked.

Across the yard, Sasuke's eyes narrowed in on where Sakura was in the female enclosure. She stood with her hands clamped to her mouth as if she didn't trust herself to keep from screaming. Then Sasuke saw what she was looking at. Forced to kneel between two prison guards was a beaten and bloody Naruto.

The warden pointed angrily at Naruto. "Someone _explain_ why this _monster_ was allowed to leave his cell!" The question was aimed at the guards, but not one had an answer. A few moments of silence passed and then the warden said, "Get me the whip." His eyes glared down at Naruto's bowed head.

Sasuke felt hatred boiling in him. He knew what was going to happen.

Sakura seemed to realize what was going to happen too, because she lost control. She screamed, "No! No, don't hurt him! He didn't mean it! It wasn't his fault!"

Her cries went unheard. The warden received the whip, and Naruto made no move to struggle as four guards grabbed him each by a limb and lifted him so his stomach hovered over the ground. 'Don't let them,' Sasuke thought to Naruto, but the boy did not hear his thoughts. 'Don't let them do it!'

"No! Stop it! Stop it!" Sakura screamed, her voice awfully loud in the silence.

"This is what we do to monsters! This is what happens when fights break out!" He seemed to be focusing most of his attention on a group of red-headed prisoners who were off to the side. He lifted the whip and brought it down on Naruto's back with a CRACK! The cheap shirt tore and was instantly stained with blood. Again and again, the loud CRACK! rang out and again and again the plain gray shirt became striped red.

And with every CRACK! Sakura screamed for it to stop.

Sasuke looked at his brother, almost wanting to whine for Itachi to stop the attack. Itachi looked _furious_ but he remained where he was, clenching and unclenching his hands. Was he thinking what Sasuke was thinking? Did he think that helping would only make things worse?

xXx

Sakura couldn't watch any more. She couldn't stand hearing Naruto's pained cries, so she squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears, crying and wishing Sasuke and Naruto didn't fight so much. She loved them both—why did Team 7 get hurt so much more than any other team? Why did they deal with so much more? She couldn't keep her eyes shut. They simply opened back up, against her will. And then Naruto stopped screaming—probably passed out—because they dropped him and his limp form simply lay there.

xXx

_Naruto, you don't have to take this,_ Kyuubi said, his ghostly form kneeling down by where Naruto's head hung. Naruto screamed as the whip crashed against his back again… and again… and again… It hurt so damn much. He didn't know _why_ he wasn't fighting it, but he was just hanging there, crying.

Tears streamed down his pale face. None of the prisoners made to stop it, of course they wouldn't. They probably thought if they did it would happen to them too. But he could hear Sakura—wherever she was—screaming. She wanted it to stop. She was crying. He didn't like it when she cried. He loved her smile. It was as warm as the sun when she wanted it to be.

_Naruto, they have no right to hurt you._ Kyuubi told him. _You don't have to take this abuse. You're not a child anymore. Sitting there and soaking up abuse will not get you the respect you want and deserve._

Kyuubi was right, he realized as he screamed in pain. He didn't want to be in pain anymore. He didn't want to be abused. He didn't want to take the pain. "Help…me…" he panted and the whip cracked down again. His own scream practically drowned out his words.

_I already told you. The next time you want my help, you have to free me. That is the only way I will help you._

He hesitated, but another scream tore out of his throat and blackness consumed him. He woke up lying in a few inches of liquid. He was in the gray, dimly lit corridors of his mind. His feet carried him of their own accord to where he knew Kyuubi was locked away. This time he stood in front of a massive fox who looked maliciously out of the bars and growled in what sounded like amusement.

"What are you waiting for?" the nine-tails chuckled somewhat cruel sounding before he added, "Remove the seal. Free me."

He glanced up at the seal on the bars and then back at the demon. "What is to say I remove this and you won't go rampaging?"

"You have two options," the fox pointed out, "return and be abused, or free me and remain unharmed."

"I'll kill you myself if you hurt anyone." Naruto told him before reaching for the seal. The minute his hand touched it, the seal burst into flames and he was flung backward as the doors flew open and the demon fox burst out and pinned his small body down with one massive paw.

"You'll kill _me_?" he chuckled. "You're just lucky I am not anal like Shukaku, or I would simply possess you now that one of the two seals are broken. Just one more to go and I will be completely free… come, Naruto." He lifted his paw and began walking down the large corridors, making his way toward the exit that led to where Naruto's father was buried.

Naruto stumbled after the fox and they made their way into the city. No one was around—not one soul. Where were all the people? Were they still in Naruto's mind?

Not much later, they were walking through the walls as though they were insubstantial and they stood looking down at Naruto's prone body lying on the ground. Still there was not a single soul anywhere around.

His body was unmoving. Naruto didn't know what to do, but the large fox simply nudged him toward his body. "Return to your body. I will join you only after you have gone in."

Naruto didn't exactly know _how_ to return, but then he was rising out of a fog of blackness. His eyelids fluttered open and somehow he knew only a minute or two had passed since he must have fallen unconscious. He felt Kyuubi's presence in his blood stronger than it had ever been before and wondered if that was how Gaara felt having Shukaku so strongly inside him.

"Is he awake?" the guy who had whipped him demanded.

Naruto slid his hands beneath him and pushed himself up, feeling each and every lash on his back burning with ferocity. Beneath his hands, he could see the ground bursting with new green life, and he wondered if that was Kyuubi's doing. He had always thought Kyuubi was a fire based demon.

Maybe that was a load of junk though?

xXx

"Stay down, Naruto, stay down," Sakura chanted, her eyes glued to the horrible scene of his struggling. "You don't have to do this… just stay down… Please, oh please, don't fight…" Tears coursed down her features. She wanted him to be okay. When the hell had he grown so important to her? When did he come to mean so much to her?

xXx

"Don't get up," Itachi muttered. Sasuke knew Naruto would, but he also hoped Naruto wouldn't. Naruto always got up, even if it resulted in a trip to the hospital. He was defiant to the last; annoying as that was.

xXx

"Stay down, brat," the man who whipped him said.

Naruto pulled himself to his knees, and then stood on unsteady feet. He looked at the older, crueler man, and he _smiled_. "You know what?" he asked, all the while knowing he should just keep his damn mouth shut if he wanted to get out of prison alive at the end of the week. "You whip like a bitch." He spat the words out venomously.

The entire prison courtyard had heard his soft-spoken words because no one even dared to _breathe_ much less speak.

"Do I?" the man asked, not rising to the jibe. He smirked, grabbed a hunk of Naruto's blond locks, and yanked hard. "We'll see how smart you feel after a week in the hole."

"I will warn you only once," Naruto told the man, his head sore. He could feel the wounds on his back weeping blood. "Let me go or pay the piper."

The man yanked again before shoving Naruto into a set of guards. "Take him to the hole." He ordered, and Naruto was dragged toward the prison itself. He looked down at the ground beneath his feet as he was dragged and saw green blades of grass growing out of beaten dirt wherever his shoe touched the ground.

Curious, he stomped one foot down on the ground, halting his procession and he half-turned his head to glare back at his abuser. 'Can I do it with mere will, like Gaara can?' he wondered, and he envisioned what he wanted before unleashing the chakra to the ground.

The ground trembled just slightly before a massive chute of vines shot out of the ground, the base becoming thick enough that it was like a tree so wide around the base one would never be able to wrap their arms around it; vines wrapped around the man before he could so much as scream and then the next thing he knew, he was dangling there upside-down like a piñata.

After that, Naruto let himself be dragged away.

xXx

"What was that?" Sasuke asked Itachi later that night. "Did Naruto do that?"

"You're certainly talkative," Itachi groused, attempting to sleep after their evening meal. He shoved the pillow over his head and lay on the bottom bunk facing the wall. Sasuke was on the top bunk, peering over the edge of the bed at his brother.

"It was sort of weird," Sasuke added thoughtfully.

"I think I liked you better when you hated me," Itachi muttered into his pillow.

"I've never seen anything like that." The younger brother continued.

Sighing, Itachi said, "You have seen something similar," he took the pillow off his head and continued, "The Kazekage of Sunagakure can do it, except he uses sand."

"Gaara?" Sasuke blinked.

"Yes, you twit, now go to," Itachi never got to finish.

Sasuke interrupted, "How? How could they do it? I couldn't analyze how Naruto did that with the plant."

"It isn't something that can be replicated," Itachi sighed even heavier than before. "Summoners can connect with their Summon Creatures and use prominent elements to their advantage. Kyuubi's last Summoner tapped Kyuubi's fire element, and Naruto has tapped Kyuubi's green life element. Naruto tapped that power, just as Gaara taps the power to control sand. _Now_ go to sleep."

"So," Sasuke started.

"Zip it," Itachi said.

"But-,"

"You're starting to sound like a damn school girl who just got her period," Itachi muttered. That certainly shut Sasuke up. The younger brother turned away and stared at the wall, but he didn't fall asleep. He heard his brother's breathing even out and knew he'd fallen asleep, but Sasuke couldn't sleep.

If he couldn't see it before, he knew now why Orochimaru wanted so badly to get a hold of eyes that could perform _koumajutsu_. Maybe if he talked to that Yobidasu Summoner girl who healed him, he could convince her it wasn't in anyone's best interests for Naruto to learn to Summon… but then again, that would require _talking_ to that _evil girl_.

Sasuke felt somewhat strange, lying in the prison cell with Itachi. There was a sort of hollow feeling in his stomach. He hadn't been able to eat dinner, because every time he closed his eyes he saw Naruto's face when the boy turned to look at the prison warden. His eyes had mirrored how they had looked in the Valley of the End when the two had fought to the death.

Bloody orange-red with slit-pupils instead of bright blue with a natural, human round-pupil. And the thought that his best friend-slash-greatest enemy had been whipped like that made him grind his teeth. He had no idea where Naruto was then, or what was happening to the boy.

'Please be okay,' was his last thought, somewhere near dawn before he finally drifted off into his usual nightmarish sleep. As usual, it was dreams about being back with Orochimaru. His body curled up into a tight ball, and he couldn't wake when Itachi tried shaking him out of the dream. In the end, Itachi ended up using the Sharingan on him, planting a suggestion in his mind that he was not having a bad dream. After that point, he slept without dreaming, and would never know or remember what Itachi had done for him come morning.

* * *

**Thanks to: **KibaSin (Avei and Kotor are pretty cool), Dark Inu Fan (no one seems to like Naruto do they?), Kagome Lady of Darkness, Hiei's Cute Girl (good luck in the upcoming school year), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I'm not sure Sasuke doesn't like the Yobidasu as much as he doesn't seem to like Kagome...this could pose a problem in the future), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (you were the only one who guessed, so therefore, you were the only wrong one. Congratulations!), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 31 after I posted chapter 32. 

ANSWER: I simply could not wait to post this chapter, though I did want to get some reviews on last chapter. Next chapter we see a little from Neiji.

_I still believe in your eyes, I just don't care what you've done in your life, Baby I'll always be here by your side, don't leave me waiting too long, please come by (and review!). _


	33. Neiji Eavesdrops

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 33: Neiji Eavesdrops

Saturday morning dawned bright and early as most Saturdays in July tended to do. For Neiji, the Saturday dawned _too_ early. Perhaps it was his own fault: He hadn't gone to bed until three thirty AM, so when his alarm rang at four AM, he smashed it irritably into "broken" condition. Of course, then it started emitting this sickly noise that sounded like a cross between a mewling cat and a dying rabbit (both types of animals could go extinct for all Neiji cared) which resulted in his only option of getting up to unplug the thing.

By that time, he was already awake and it simply would not make sense to go back to bed. Groaning, he padded across his room and pulled on his bathrobe. He trekked to the kitchen of the branch house and began making breakfast for himself. None of the other branch house members were awake yet. Neiji was always first up and first out of the house.

He was usually the last in the house and the last to bed as well—mostly by choice of association. He would rather be training than in the branch house—or more accurately, he would rather be _dead_ than in the Hyuuga district. He spent as much time away as he could possibly manage.

That was another reason to hate weekends other than the mornings being so ungodly morning-like. On weekends, he didn't have to meet with his teacher or teammates. The seventeen year old had a weekend of _crap_ to look forward to. Crap from Hinata, crap from other members of the clan, crap from Neiji's uncle… It was going to be an all-round crappy day, he could feel it in his bones.

And all the others his age (well, technically they were all younger than him by a year) weren't meeting under the bridge for lunch that day because Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura went and got themselves a week-sentence in jail. Neiji was still trying to piece together how Sakura was stupid enough to get involved. He was sure she was the most intelligent out of Team 7 (including the perverted Jounin).

After a small breakfast, since he didn't eat much because Ten-Ten was always asking him to try her recipes (the girl said she needed a guy's opinion because she wanted to perfect it for a guy and Neiji wasn't mean enough to tell her to find someone else to try her poison on), he took a shower, dressed, and brushed his teeth.

Then, because no one was up yet (did the Hyuuga clan have intentions of sleeping for the rest of their lives?) he left the branch house and made his way to the training dojo. He was surprised to find Hinata was already awake. She sat in the well-lit training dojo with papers sprawled out around her, drawing pictures with charcoal crayons. Her fingers were covered in the many colors of the charcoal. She hadn't noticed him yet.

Walking up behind his cousin, he peered at the pictures. As usual, her talent grew with every picture she drew. She insisted she wasn't that good at drawing, but her current project (a likeness of Neiji) was actually flattering it was so good.

"Can't sleep?" Neiji asked his cousin, startling her enough that the violet-colored charcoal crayon skid across the sheet of paper.

She turned bright red and hastily began collecting her pictures together, smearing the charcoal on several of them in her haste. "Neiji-kun," she gasped, holding the pictures to her like a guilty child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "I-I can just f-fine," she stammered nervously.

He smiled indulgently at his cousin. His relationship with her had grown ever since he'd been beaten by Naruto in the Chunin exam. He was probably the closest family member she had now, and whether or not he would admit it aloud, he felt she had definitely earned his respect, especially since she'd become a Chunin. He'd never expected her to graduate the Genin academy, so having come as far as she did, she definitely outranked his expectations for her.

"Take a deep breath, Hinata-sama," he told her, "and count to ten. Then speak."

Ever since he'd known Hinata, she'd always seemed to have difficulty speaking. Talking to people seemed to cause her stress (especially Naruto, since she never failed to pass out when Naruto noticed her) and stress caused her to stammer. It was inexplicable why she would have such a problem, and Hiyashi—head of the Hyuuga clan—would not admit Hinata might have a problem so would not take the girl to the hospital for it.

It seemed to help her to breathe and then count to ten, so he was usually careful to be patient with her and remind her to breathe.

She obeyed him, took a deep breath, and then slowly let it out. He held out a hand to help her to her feet; she accepted the offer and got multi-colored charcoal on his clean hands. Hugging her pictures to her, she scuffed the floor with a toe. "Can't you sleep either?" she asked him hesitantly though far less nervous than before.

He shrugged. "I just woke up. Since it is Saturday, I have nothing pressing to do and came here to train." Honestly, he would be a lifetime slave to anyone who would only get him out of the Hyuuga district every weekend (because he wasn't rude enough to simply leave on his off-days, though he wished he was).

Hinata seemed to be getting nervous again: She wanted to ask him a favor. Oh, he could recognize the signs…well, _sign_. She always worked herself up to nearly fainting-point just to ask for a favor.

"Breathe," he told her with a raised eyebrow.

She did so several times until she had calmed down again and then asked, "Would you like to join me to see Sakura today? She can have visitors, and I would like…" he grinned and she saw it. "Neiji-kun, you're smiling," she giggled, able to relax more when he wasn't his stoic-self.

"You want to see the blond idiot," he guessed. "That's the whole point of going, isn't it?" She turned beet red, neither denying nor agreeing. "Ah, I see." He said. "Then, perhaps you should get some sleep if you're going to visit _Sakura_ later. You wouldn't want to be seen with sleepy bags, would you, Hinata-sama?"

"T-thank-you, Neiji-kun!" she gasped before hugging him (getting charcoal finger prints on his clean _white_ garments) and then raced toward the house. He knew what she wanted. She wanted to catch a glimpse of Naruto. Everyone _except_ the pea-brain-blond knew Hinata had a crush on him. He seemed oblivious to Hinata, though, and had always chased after Sakura (who coincidentally or not, chased after Sasuke _not_ Naruto, and no one really knew who Sasuke liked if he liked anyone).

Hinata was probably awake all night, worried about Naruto (and perhaps a little bit about Sakura, but more-so Naruto) worried that something might be happening to Naruto while she couldn't stalk him. The girl was so predictable (and had a shrine of Naruto pictures in her closet). At first, Neiji had thought that Hinata was just like all the other obsessed fan-girls in Konohagakure, but his cousin seemed too shy to actually stick herself out there to be noticed.

Shaking his head slightly, he decided it wasn't any of his business. He'd once heard that the Uzumaki family were among the original founders of Konohagakure, which made them a clan. Hinata was heiress to the Hyuuga clan, and that meant that there was no way in hell the two could ever be allowed. Both she and Neiji got the short end of the stick by being born into the Hyuuga clan. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Later that day (after a great deal of emotional, boring lectures from the housekeeper of the branch house for the state of Neiji's bedroom) Neiji walked with Hinata up Kyper's Creek Road on a direct route to the old castle-like prison. Once they were let inside, they had to remove their nin-gear and place all their personal belongings except their clothes in a small wooden crate and they were questioned on the nature of their visit, who they would be seeing and why. Neiji handled all the questions, saving Hinata the stress of talking to a stranger. After that, they were taken to a small waiting area with a great deal many tables and chairs. Hinata chose to sit at one of the tables, so Neiji sat with her.

A few people were lounging about the waiting room, waiting for whoever it was they had come to visit to be brought by the guards. Neiji and Hinata didn't have to wait long for Sakura. She came within half an hour and sat across the table from them in cuffs.

Neiji was somewhat glad to have come, realizing now that he was here he could ask Sakura what she did to get herself a trip to prison. Everyone knew it was a fight that got Sasuke and Naruto thrown away (Neiji felt Sasuke ought to just _stay_ in prison, since he was a deserter, but that was just his opinion). But Sakura? He never pegged her like that.

"Sakura-chan," Hinata said, allowing the girl to get settled before starting her conversation. Neiji realized instantly that Hinata didn't stutter around Sakura. Was it different for Hinata to talk to a girl versus the male gender?

Sakura was smiling, but Neiji could tell it was a very fake smile. It didn't reach her eyes and she appeared haunted. Could just one day in prison do that to a person? "Hello, Hinata-chan," Sakura said, and then she smiled at Neiji, "Neiji-kun. How are you both?"

"We're fine," Hinata said instantly. "But what about you? You look very tired, Sakura-chan, are you okay?"

Sakura's smile faltered slightly. "I didn't get much sleep last night." Neiji could tell that was only half the truth but Hinata bought it. "I am glad you came to see me. It's nice to see a familiar face… After this week, I think I might put in a transfer to inactive duty… I don't know, take up a craft or something and live with the mountain hermits."

Hinata gasped. "No, no, you can't do that, Sakura-chan. You only just got your team back together. In a few years, Sasuke-kun will be off probation and you'll all be happy again!"

Sakura shook her head. "That's half my problem right there: Sasuke."

"And the other half?" Neiji asked curiously.

Sakura looked confused for a moment. "Other half of what?" she asked.

"Of your problem," Neiji said, "The first half is Sasuke, so what is the other half?"

Sakura sighed deeply. "A dumb blond," she muttered.

"Ino?" Hinata asked. "What did she do?"

Neiji understood what Sakura was trying to say.

"Time's up, Prisoner 63958," said one of the guards.

Sakura began rising from her seat. "That's me. You learn your inmate number really quickly around here…" she laughed without humor. "Thanks for stopping, Hinata-chan." Hinata rose as well, moving around to hug Sakura. Tears shone in Hinata's violet eyes before Hinata hurried toward the exit she would have to leave out of. Hinata was taking deep gulps of air, trying not to get upset.

Sakura looked at Neiji before whispering low, "Take a message to Tsunade-sama for me?" He nodded and she continued quickly as the guards began walking over to her. "Tell her that Naruto is _not_ okay. She needs to see Naruto. Tell her that, but don't let anyone else know. It's important, Neiji-kun, please, tell her."

He nodded as the guard took her arm and began leading her away. "Come on, girl, time's up."

He and Hinata left the prison then and he couldn't figure out how to ditch her—at least until they got to the inner city and they were passing Ino's flower shop. Instead of having to ditch her, he was ditched. "I'm going to talk to Ino!" she said determinedly before marching into the flower shop.

Neiji blinked at his departing cousin's back for a moment before he made his way to Hokage tower. He made his way up to the office and made to knock on the door, only a soft voice stopped him. The door was open a crack, so he could hear the people inside the room. He didn't dare try peeking in, but he did recognize Tsunade's voice and his old academy teacher Iruka's voice.

"He did _what_?" that was Iruka's voice. He sounded _furious_. More furious than Neiji ever remembered hearing him, because unlike how he used to shout his anger across half the academy district, Iruka's voice had become soft and it sent a chill down the teen's spine.

"H-he whipped the Uzumaki boy," Neiji couldn't believe he had just heard that. "Just him. He blamed the entire outbreak on the Uzumaki boy. The Uzumaki boy is in the hole now, and once he got himself down, he moved his anger onto Kyuubi's little girl." The voice who spoke wasn't a recognizable one. It was male, but nervous.

"Down from where?" Tsunade and Iruka asked in unison.

"Apparently," the nervous character muttered, "there was 'outside' influence. We're not sure whether to blame Kyuubi's little girl, the demons present, or the Uzumaki boy himself for it."

"What happened?" Again, Iruka sounded downright _deadly_.

"We're… we really don't know. Just, all of a sudden, a giant _vine_ burst from the ground. The thing is fifty feet high and twenty feet round at the base. The Warden was dangling from the vine like he were caught in a rabbit trap."

"This wouldn't have happened if that fucking Council of Elders hadn't stuck their nose into shinobi business," Iruka snapped.

The next voice that spoke belonged to Tsunade. "There's nothing I can do about this, Iruka," Tsunade sounded apologetic and angry simultaneously.

"I know, I know," Iruka snapped angrily. "But the Council of Elders can't be allowed to get away with this, Tsunade!" Get away with whipping Naruto? Did the Elder Council do it? And who was Kyuubi's little girl? Neiji knew he should either leave now or else announce his presence, but for once, the curiosity was too much. He had to know. _What happened_?

"Calm down, Iruka, before Shizune wakes up." Tsunade said. "She's been awake all night working in the hospital. I just barely got her to go into the next room and nap."

"You told me Sasuke was to be sharing a cell with Naruto, and Kakashi would share a cell with Sakura. Now, Sakura's been put with Kyuubi's little girl, Kakashi and Sasuke are together, and Naruto is with a man convicted of child-rape-and-murder on at least a dozen accounts. You tell me how wrong this is?" Iruka hissed.

There was a long pause and the sound of a creaking chair. "As much as I want to go help Naruto, I can't. He and Sasuke were fighting—I warned them they would go to jail if they fought again. If I backed down on that now, they would never take me seriously again."

"For the love of the heavens," Iruka growled, "you can teach them to take you seriously some _other_ way than leaving them in prison where _my boy_ will get the skin whipped off his back, or raped, or _murdered_!" Neiji blinked. Were Iruka and Naruto that close? Did Iruka feel himself fatherly to the orphan? "He's my boy, Tsunade, I've taken care of him, and raised him, and now he's sleeping in the same cell as death practically!"

Tsunade made a strangled sound of frustration. "I know, Iruka! But it's not just my choice! It's that gods-be-damned Council of Elders! They took control of the prison operations. I can't step a toe out of line or they're going to have me lynched. I received _this_ earlier today." There was the sound of exchanging papers, and Neiji wondered what the hell he was doing just standing there. Was he a Byakugan user or was he not?

He turned to look at the door and whispered, "Byakugan," and opened the Byakugan eyes. He could see three gray people-shapes with working chakra in the room. One was kneeling, one was standing by the desk, and the third was sitting behind the desk. It wasn't hard to figure out who was who. The stranger was kneeling, Tsunade was sitting at her desk, and Iruka was standing before it. He wished he could focus the Byakugan to read the paper, but the print was too small.

"You're kidding me!" Iruka exclaimed. "All civilians read this paper! What do they think they can prove by printing this?" He then answered his own question, "They're planting seeds into the people's heads!"

"Worse still," Tsunade added, "that article is scheduled to be printed in the Sunday Edition Konohagakure Newspaper."

"Tsunade, if this gets out," Iruka started hesitantly.

"I know. If this gets out, it will make it all the more easier for the Elders to tie the noose around my neck, and Naruto will lose _everything_ he's ever worked for. I know he's had a hard life, but it would be minute compared to what he would have to deal with if that gets out." Tsunade's head fell onto her desk with a THUNK! "I can't do anything to keep the public from knowing about it either, or else it will look like it's the truth."

"But… but we know it's going to hurt both you and Naruto," Iruka said hesitantly, "there has to be something we can do…"

"Things are even worse, I'm afraid," Tsunade whispered lowly. "The Yobidasu clan are seeking to move to Konohagakure, and that's got the council all shaken. A package was sent from Huro for Naruto, but the council found out about it and confiscated both a package for Naruto and one for Kakashi."

"Huro the gypsy?" Iruka seemed angry. Neiji could remember old tales about Huro the gypsy from his father. The Hyuuga's _hated_ the gypsies because they had the inborn ability to hypnotize people. The tales about Huro the gypsy said he'd learned to harness his inborn ability through both song and dance… "Huro was a great man! He was as great as Yondaime Hokage was! How could the council ever think Huro to be anything else? He would never do anything to hurt Konohagakure and especially not Naruto, no matter if he was exiled."

"I know that, Iruka," Tsunade said.

Iruka's shoulders slumped. "Is there anything we can do for Naruto? Anything?"

"I wish there were… but if we don't follow through with the sentence now, it will only make the article look like the truth, and I can't afford to be lynched now… Naruto knows about the Yobidasu now, and he knows about Summoning. Without a Hokage, the Council of Elders will turn even our shinobi ranks against Naruto and he has worked too hard for what respect he does get. Those preachers will not get the satisfaction of beating me or Naruto."

"If I may interrupt, Hokage-sama," said the nervous person, "but now that the Uzumaki boy is in the hole, he should be safe. He was confined for the rest of the week."

Neiji carefully backed away from the door and left with a frown on his face. Whatever it was that was on the paper, it hadn't been very good. It was probably something very incriminating, and obviously was something untruthful. What was he going to do about this? What could he do about this?

The decision didn't take long to make. He only had a limited amount of time to develop a plan, and already he had one forming. However, he would need _manpower_ to carry out this plan. He ran over the names of those people he knew who wouldn't tell a soul if they did this (and of course who were available to help and not on a mission).

Lee—if he was approached right about the issue, he would consider the act as a form of justice, but it would take very careful planning to make sure he kept the secret afterward.

Ten-Ten—she might help, but before adding her to his list of 'for sures' he figured he would need to ask her.

Hinata—her absence would be too noticeable, she couldn't lie very well, and he could already tell that the plan would cause her undue stress. She was out of the question.

Shikamaru—he owed Neiji a favor, since Neiji did help clean out his family barn last summer. Neiji did only want to get out of the Hyuuga district and was grateful when Shikamaru asked for assistance, but now it would be time to collect old favors.

Chouji—he was a possibility, but the large guy's absence might be noticeable so Neiji thought he would just get Shikamaru's opinion before bringing Chouji in on the plan.

Shino—he would help so long as no one ever mentioned the name _Fuyumi Shen_ within hearing distance of him. The guy went berserk (which was incredibly amusing to watch) every time he heard that name after Tsunade assigned the green-haired girl on Shino's team.

Ino—she could prove useful with her possession technique, but would she keep a secret? Could girls (other than Ten-Ten) keep secrets?

Kiba—he was definitely a 'no' simply because Neiji couldn't stand the guy. But on the other hand, he and Akamaru would be rather useful…

Neiji made his way to Shikamaru's house. Shikamaru would be able to contact the others easily enough, he was sure.

Shikamaru seemed surprised that Neiji would visit. "Do you have anywhere _private_ we can talk?" Neiji asked the other boy.

Shikamaru frowned, then nodded. "The barn," he said, and hollered into the house, "Ma, I'll be right back!" There was a quick, 'These dishes better be done before lunch, Shikamaru, or you'll be grounded!' before Shikamaru slammed the front door and led Neiji around back. Once they were in the barn, Shikamaru turned to Neiji. "What's up?"

Neiji glanced around the barn. Some of the reindeer were making strange noises, and there were creaks in the hayloft. There was too many noises that could be _anything_ so he wasn't sure how 'secret' their discussion would remain. Still, he trusted that Shikamaru would know the privacy of his own barn, and he knew reindeer couldn't talk.

"I have a favor to pull," Neiji said, and then began explaining what he was going to do—with the help of the others, of course. Then he explained why it needed to be done, telling Shikamaru that someone was going to publish something in the paper that would hurt Tsunade. He did not tell Shikamaru what he'd heard about Naruto, that it would harm Naruto as well as Tsunade, or why he'd gone to Tsunade in the first place though. But he owed Naruto a lot. The boy had taught him a valuable lesson in life that no one else had done. Once he'd finished, Shikamaru scratched his head, thinking for a few minutes.

"Well, shoot," Shikamaru said. "This is one of those things we need Naruto for." Both of them knew Naruto was one person they couldn't have for the task, being that the blonde was in jail and all. Still, Neiji raised a questioning eyebrow. Shikamaru explained, "Naruto knows how to pick locks and he's really fast at it." He sighed. "This is going to be one hell of a job, you know that?"

Neiji knew that before he'd even thought of the plan. "Yes. We need information on when the papers are done printing and when they're delivered. Do you think the others will help?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Ino will. I know a few others who could help too. The Sunday Edition is delivered to every house in Konohagakure almost, so we're going to need a hell of a lot of manpower. I'll make the calls, and have Ino start digging for information from the newspaper. Lee should probably not be in on this. Sorry to say it, mate, but your partner has got a very wide mouth."

Neiji did know that, but he didn't want to admit it about his friend. Lee was too honorable to tell a lie—ever.

"We'll meet under the bridge in two hours. I'll contact those who I think can help." Shikamaru said. Neiji thanked Shikamaru before the two parted ways out of the barn.

"_Shikamaru, _get your ass in this house and do these dishes, _now!_" his mother screamed out of the back door.

Shikamaru clucked his tongue and shoved his hands in his pockets as he went back in the house. "How troublesome." He said.

Neiji had just turned the corner out of the Nara district when thoughts about a certain blond invaded his mind. He hadn't really given it that much thought when he'd heard about it, but why was Naruto whipped, and what _outbreak_?

* * *

**Thanks to: **KibaSin (You're my first response again... I feel sorry for HIM!), DarkRavie (and read more you shall), Dark Inu Fan (experimentation perhaps?), Kagome Lady of Darkness, snowecat, ST Nickolian (Don't worry about not being consistent and good luck with school), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Kurama huh? He'd have to grow out his hair first...wait, he is doing that! Will he be the next Kurama? I ask you this...), DeathNoteMaker (the evil guys in the story don't! Make deathnotes for them!), Hiei's Cute Girl (It seems to have been a little less than obvious... no one knows if it was him!), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (I really don't know how to respond to that review...you're hyper, how's that?), KuroxTenshi (damn him to hell), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 32 after I posted chapter 33. 

ANSWER: You have to wait until another chapter to find out what the actual plan is! I'm feeling evil today.

_Sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree, I traveled the world and the seven seas, everybody's looking for something (like a review!)_


	34. Dragon Man

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 34: Dragon Man

When Lee had nervously gone to Gai after lunch, Gai knew right away there was something up with his adopted son. He'd immediately stopped doing dishes and rushed Lee to a training ground, saying that nervousness could be beaten out of the body through intense training. They had kicked at posts for a good three hours before Lee found out that Gai was right. Each kick that burned his leg with bruises were taking his mind away from the talk he would be having soon.

Finally calm, Lee had stopped and Gai and Lee sat down for a heart-to-heart talk.

"What is it that has been troubling you, my youthful pupil?" Gai asked boisterously, his hands propped on his knees as he nimbly fell into the splits with no problems. "Certainly you are not still upset over my beloved sister's good fortune to come stay at our lovely home next week? She will love you as much as I do, certainly!"

"Oh, no, Gai-sensei," Lee shook his head. "I'm not upset about that. I was startled that she was coming, that's all." Gai had been very nervous when he told Lee that his sister would be coming to stay for a week, though Lee still didn't know why. Lee had no problem sharing a room with Gai's son for a week to make room for Gai's baby sister.

"Then are you upset because your ultimate rival is in jail for a week?" Gai asked curiously. "I know I am!" he slapped a fist into his palm. "But that shall not be a problem at all, because I have requested prison duty! I will start Monday and make sure that my ultimate rival remains unharmed so that I may someday beat him!"

Again, Lee shook his head. "No, Gai-sensei. That's not it either." Lee was sort of shaken that all of Team 7 was put in jail, and even more-so bothered that Sakura had to suffer in there, but he had already resolved to buying Sakura an adorable, fluffy plushy and planned to give it to her when she was released on Friday morning.

Gai simply looked confused after that. He had run out of ideas of what it could possibly be that was troubling his pupil. Lee wasn't one to keep Gai waiting though, so he started talking.

"I wanted to talk to you about myself and where I come from!" Lee said.

At that, Gai was startled and actually seemed more nervous. "You don't have to talk about it," Gai said. As far as Gai knew, Lee's parents died a long time ago, and Lee was an orphan. It wasn't exactly the truth, and Lee wanted Gai to know what the truth was.

"I know," Lee said, "but I want to."

"Then of course, I shall listen most diligently!" Gai said enthusiastically. Lee really admired Gai for his constant enthusiasm. Sometimes when Lee was alone, he couldn't find it inside him to be really enthusiastic.

"Thirteen years ago," Lee began, "I ventured into Konohagakure. Before then, I'd watched people from my home in the mountains," Gai looked surprised and Lee understood why. Lee had always lied and said he lived _outside_ Konohagakure, not in the mountains above it. That was why the confession was so hard for Lee. He was admitting to such an evil act as lying.

Thankfully, Gai didn't say anything. Lee was able to continue without interruption so far. "I was four then. I was lonely and wanted others to play with. I had no mother or father, no sisters or brothers. I was all by myself. But to get to Konohagakure, I had to walk through the academy district, because the way down from the mountains led into the district training grounds. I met many children and I learned quickly that I did not speak their language."

Gai sobbed into his wrist, the tears creating little rivers down his face. "Oh, that's so sad!" Gai moaned. "Four year olds should not be so alone!" Instantly, Lee was engulfed in an affectionate fatherly hug. "You're not alone now, Lee-kun, I'll always be around!"

"Thank you, Gai-sensei," Lee said, blushing slightly. He especially liked Gai because he was so affectionate. He had grown up with no family, so it was nice to be welcomed freely. When Gai calmed his tears, Lee was able to continue. "I returned to my home, intent to learn the language the children spoke." Gai never wondered how Lee learned, which suited Lee just fine. "In a few months, I could speak it and I returned to watch the children. I asked if I could play with them, but did not receive a warm welcome. They said they were not playing. They said 'a freak like you would not understand'."

Gai began crying again. "Who were they? I would have words with them!" Gai insisted, but Lee couldn't remember who they were anymore. He didn't even remember what they looked like.

"It doesn't matter, Gai-sensei," he insisted, "because when I was five, I gathered the courage to return and I met the Dragon Man," Gai blinked.

"The _Dragon Man_? Who is that?" Gai asked.

Lee frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't know who he is. I only know he was real nice. He only had one arm and one leg, but he could still walk. I ran into him, and he dropped something. He didn't know he'd dropped anything. He was more concerned with me being okay."

Gai asked softly, "Did he have really dark blue eyes? Did it look like you were looking into the night sky?"

"His face was hidden behind an ANBU mask that had a serpentine dragon face." Gai was frowning, but Lee continued. "The Dragon Man left and forgot the envelope that fell out of his pocket, so I went to return it to him. It was a thick envelope, filled with money. I followed him to Iruka-sensei. At that time, Iruka-sensei was much younger and not a teacher yet. He lived in an apartment, and the Dragon Man was going to go inside with Iruka-sensei. I didn't want to miss my chance to give the man his money back, so I ran up to him and tugged on his empty sleeve."

"Hmm," Gai crossed his arms over his chest. "Iruka met with some shady Dragon Man many years ago, did he? That does not seem like the honorable man I know. I shall have to investigate this!" He decided.

"But he seemed like such a good man, Gai-sensei," Lee insisted. "He wasn't shady at all. He thanked me for bringing back his money and even took me to lunch with Iruka-sensei. He asked me all sorts of questions like what I'd like to do when I grow up and what my favorite foods were and all that. I told him I didn't know what I wanted to do, because I didn't have any idea what I _could_ do."

"Ah, my beloved pupil, that is where the danger is," Gai said sternly. "Because no one ever cared enough to talk to you, your judgment is confused because he did."

"No, Gai-sensei, I know he was a good man." Lee promised. "He even rewarded me for bringing his money back to him by enrolling me at the academy." Lee didn't know how much enrollment and tuition cost. He only knew that the Dragon Man paid for it all and all Lee had to do was show up to learn.

Gai was frowning even more. "Lee-kun, that's a pretty large reward. Fees at the academy aren't cheap."

"Well, he paid for it all," Lee fidgeted, hoping it wasn't wrong of him to accept the reward. Gai said no more, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally Lee felt he should just continue talking or else stop all together. He really wanted Gai to know. "Anyway, that's how I got into the academy and met Neiji-kun and everyone else. Until you took me in, I stayed in the mountains and came down for school."

"Lee-kun, none of this is really that much different from your last story, except you lived in the mountains and this questionable Dragon Man paid your school fees." Gai said, obviously confused as to why Lee would bring it all up.

"But that's just it," Lee said. "Well, not the Dragon Man, but me living in the mountains. My home isn't _on_ the mountain, it's _inside_ it. I'm an Arthlezenithite, Gai-sensei!" Lee told the man.

"An Arfeli-what?" Gai's tongue practically twisted on the name.

"An Arthlezenithite, Gai-sensei. The children of the Four Goddesses."

"Oh, of course you are," Gai pat Lee's shoulder consolingly. He didn't sound like he believed Lee. "Aren't we all?"

"No, we're not!" Lee really wanted Gai to understand. "I was created, not born, Gai-sensei."

"Of course you were created," Gai nodded solemnly. "Everyone's parents create them. It is the loving, caring reproductive process that allows us to create children to carry on our lines."

Lee sighed. He tried to tell Gai, but it was hard to explain something so important to someone who didn't even know about the Arthlezenithites, and Lee just didn't know how to begin telling about it.

xXx

Lee yawned widely as he crossed his bedroom toward the small bed. He was really tired. He'd spent all Saturday night attempting once again to compose the perfect love letter to Sakura. His waste basket was overflowing with the failures, and the successes numbered in the 'zeros' yet again.

Really, it had been so many years since he'd first seen her and fallen for her. His first day in Konohagakure he had seen her and knew from that moment forward, he just had to someday admit his love to her. He knew within his heart that justice would prevail if he could only word his love right, and she would fall for him and forget about Sasuke.

Admittedly, Lee was very bitter that Sasuke had returned. He had been partly glad Sasuke left, because without Sasuke around, his competition for Sakura went down one hundred percent. Lee wasn't sure what Sakura saw in Sasuke anyway. His eyes went to his reflection in the mirror that hung on the closet door.

Lee considered himself a very dashing person. At that moment, he wore loose green silk pajama pants and a green silk pajama top. His hair was combed flat against his head, cropped round his head at the top of his ears. He had perfect eyebrows just like his mentor, Gai. He wasn't terribly scarred like Sasuke was. He was noble and loyal and _not_ a runaway. And he wouldn't ever hurt Sakura like Sasuke had.

So what did Sakura see in Sasuke?

He heaved a sigh and flicked the overhead light off as he walked past the switch. Then he knelt down next to the bed for his usual, nightly prayers. Lee found it a bit upsetting that most shinobi didn't believe in religion. He knew of very few who did: Iruka-sensei, who had taught Lee the basics of being a ninja at the academy, and Naruto were the only two he knew of who ever went to church.

Sure, there might be more who believed in religion just not in the same as Lee. But the rest of the religions were just a load of hog-swallow, just a bunch of old farts preaching to the gullible and using a place called 'hell' as punishment. Lee was committed to his religion, mostly because he was born knowing of it.

But for a shinobi to not be religious, it simply did not make sense to Lee. For every good or bad deed, there would be punishment and reward. Those who did not make up for their bad deeds would be punished by the Four Goddesses in the afterlife.

He closed his eyes, folding his left hand around his right wrist and allowing only his pointer and middle finger to point skyward. Clearing his throat he began as he always did. "Dear Lady Goddesses, I thank you for all you have done for me. Though you brought me into this world without parents, you have graced me with your kindness by directing Gai-sensei to me. I really appreciate that."

Every night he thanked the Four Goddesses for Gai. Without Gai's help, Lee would never have made it as far as he had. During the very trying time when Lee had to have an operation on his spine and Gai promised to follow Lee into death should the worst happen, Lee had determined he could only survive so that Gai would not have to leave his family.

"I thank you for the wonderful meal Gai-sensei's lovely wife cooked. Without your warm hands, Lady Goddess of the Earth, the delicious vegetables would not have grown and you know how much I love my vegetables. I think tonight's vegetables had fiber, or maybe proteins, I'm not sure, but they were tasty." Lee loved good vegetables, and couldn't eat meat anymore. Since he'd hit puberty, as happened to most of his people, he couldn't stomach meat. It made him so sick he would be bedridden for days.

He did miss meat though, especially pork. He loved pork roast.

"I thank you for giving me courage to tell Gai-sensei today about myself. I know he doesn't understand anything I told him, but thank you for helping him to at least pretend he understood, and thank you for giving him the courage to keep the secret. He isn't a religious man though, so his ignorance about your children isn't surprising."

Lee's prayer was interrupted as he heard whispers outside on the street. It was strange to hear it because usually no one was around at that time. He blinked and crawled up onto the bed, poking his head out the window. Across the street was a rather conspicuous group in all black and with dark ski-masks on their faces. There were a lot of people, and they had several wagons.

They were trying to break into the newspaper building across the street. Lee could not let the injustice slide, but he was only one guy and there were so many masked figures over there. Lee wasn't about to barge over there when it was possible several of them were shinobi.

He slid across the dark room and rifled through his desk drawers. He found what he was looking for. It looked like a watch, but he knew it wasn't only able to tell time. He strapped it to his wrist and quickly changed out of his pajamas and into his nin-gear. Then because he didn't want his face to be seen, he wrapped a cloth around his head so that only his eyes were seen. He pulled his night-vision goggles from his desk and put those on. They would hide his eyes from being recognized, and would help him see clearly in the dark.

'Shit, can't wear this,' he thought as he got a glimpse of himself in the reflection of his mirror. Gai's awesome suit was too recognizeable since only two people in all of Konoha wore it. He scrounged his closet for something suitable, but most of his clothing was either pajamas or his uniform.

He dove into the back of his closet and managed to find a box from Gai's sister. It was a New Year's gift last January, but he'd always been fairly self-conscious wearing it so it had stayed in the box, worn only for a short two hours to please Mariemi before the box was stashed in the farthest reaches of his closet.

'Damn, I don't want to wear this,' he thought, but he had no other choice really. If anyone recognized him, he didn't want to think of the consequences. His face and head and eyes were covered, at least, so no one should recognize him if he wore it. A glance out of the window told him he didn't have time to continue debating it. The evil robbers were inside the newspaper building. Their flashlights were creating a yellow lamp affect in some of the windows.

He changed into the white, many pocketed loose khaki shorts and pulled on the steel colored satin shirt, then reattached his nin-kits to his body, and pulled on his chunin vest, zipping it up. He felt so exposed in shorts and the satin, but it was all he had that wasn't his uniform or pajamas. He pulled on his boot-sandals, and glanced at himself in the mirror. He looked so _stupid_ without his uniform! He couldn't even recognize himself!

Mariemi had said he looked really sexy, but what did _that_ woman know about proper clothing anyway? 'Yeah, she said I look sexy, and then _messed up my hair_. Maybe that's why Gai-sensei was worried I would be upset at her coming to stay. Now that I remember that, maybe I am upset!' he thought before climbing out the window.

He was going to stop those robbers!

* * *

**Thanks to: **sn1ck3rD00dl3 (everyone is going crazy), Judeau (Careful! Compliments give me a big head! Thanks!), Hiei's Cute Girl (Natsumi-chan is often right, but that's kind of her fault, isn't it?) DarkRavie (here's more), Dark Inu Fan (I'll try!), Kagome Lady of Darkness, KuroxTenshi (We'll have to see what happens to him), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (He didn't say because Sakura didn't want them to know), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 33 after I posted chapter 34. 

ANSWER: I'm still so evil, you still have to wait!!

_Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved with gold, It's always summer they'll never get cold, they'll never get hungry and never grow old, (and will never be without reviews!)_


	35. Arzyle Arminiean

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 35: Arzyle Arminiean

The darkness was perfect for the job they wanted to do. Everything had been carefully planned out during the day and they had everything they needed by nightfall. Now at three AM, they had broken into the newspaper building with every intention of stealing over ten thousand newspapers.

Once they had all the newspapers loaded into the carts, they were going to take them to the Uchiha district and douse the carts _and_ the newspapers in flammable liquids and set them on fire.

It was a simple, easy plan that couldn't _possibly_ go wrong. The Uchiha district was mostly empty save for a few stakes and half-built buildings so there was no risk that anyone could get hurt. By morning when everyone knew of the act of vandalism to the Uchiha district, it wouldn't really be _that_ big of a deal due to the fact that the past three years had warranted the Uchiha district more than its fair share of vandals, and if they made multiple small fires instead of a giant blazing bonfire, all the papers should be destroyed and no one would be the wiser as to what happened to the newspapers.

There were likely to be some suspicions, but hopefully there would not be any proof remaining. Neiji and Shikamaru had done most of the finer details in the plan, mostly relying on the others for the manpower that would be needed later on. They had alibis prepared with the help of Fuyumi, who was close friends with Ino and thus ended up involved in the plot much to Shino's dismay (though Shino did agree that the cause was more important than his distinct hatred of the green-haired woman).

Fuyumi had raided her brother's house for money—she said her brother was in jail at the moment, which completely unnerved many of the other group members considering some of them thought her clinically insane—and used whatever money she had found to throw together a big party. The party would be held in the Academy district, and no one would really question it because apparently Fuyumi threw parties left and right in the Academy district. To top that off, the alibi seemed fairly sound since Fuyumi's parties always had several hundred people at them.

Apparently her brother was _really_ well-endowed in money, and she was _really_ good at stealing from him. While Fuyumi would attend her party, since it would look weird if the hostess never showed, the others would pull off the plan and then sneak into the party like they'd been there the whole time.

Some of them, like Shikamaru, would get into a whole mess of trouble for 'sneaking out to go partying', but it would be well worth it, and far less troublesome than getting into trouble for vandalism, stealing, and arson. All of them could have ducked out of the plan, but they all liked their Hokage and _no one_ messed with Tsunade and got away with it (at least that bad—smaller things, like Naruto's pranks, were funny. This was not).

Of course, there had been a miscalculation somewhere. Some ten thousand newspapers they had estimated they were going to have to steal had multiplied by ten, and their carts and the timeframe with which they had to work in wasn't enough. They were short on manpower, and everything had to be gone before the first delivery carriers showed up at five AM.

As the group of justice-driven teenagers clothed in sneaky black shined their flashlights at the enormous warehouse filled with crates stacked in bundles of newspapers, a sense of dread washed over their leaders: Neiji and Shikamaru.

They had thought everything was so well planned. They had more help than they thought they would have due to the fact that Ino had a great deal of friends from their graduating class at the academy who were more than willing to defend their Hokage at no moment's notice, plus they had the originally planned range of help from Kiba, Chouji, Ino, Shino, Shikamaru, Neiji, and Ten-Ten. The total amount of manpower they had was twenty people.

But it still wasn't enough, and the ten carts they had was _definitely_ not enough. _Nothing_ was enough. They might as well not have even bothered trying because no matter what, if even one of those newspapers got out—and one of them would—the whole city would know by Sunday night what the newspaper said.

To make matters even _worse_, Kiba just _had_ to say, "So… we're going to move these?"

Neiji groaned. It would be so easy to just douse the place in oil and explosive tags and set it aflame, but they had the surrounding neighborhood to think about. If the fire spread, people could get hurt and they wanted to avoid that. Not to mention the explosive tags would make _sure_ the fire spread.

"Well," Ino began hesitantly, her flashlight lighting on one of the closer pallets of newspapers. "Maybe the article wasn't actually printed? Maybe you heard wrong, Neiji?"

"I didn't hear wrong," Neiji spat, though he kept his voice a whisper just like the others had. The others didn't know what Neiji knew about the article having something to do with Naruto. He felt he should honor Sakura's wishes and not let the others know so he had instructed everyone that no matter how tempting it was, they should not read the article.

The others were as curious as Neiji was about the article, but they agreed that reading it would be dangerous. If they knew what it said, who was to say that someday something might not slip? They couldn't risk that happening, especially since keeping whatever that article had said silent was the whole reason they were on their self-imposed mission.

"Hey," Ino glared at Neiji through the slit in the ski-mask. Her voice, like all of theirs would be, was muffled. "I'm attempting at hopeful optimism. You're the genius planner and strategist, so think of how we're getting all this stuff _out_ before five, which by the way, we only have an hour and forty minutes to go."

xXx

He moved through the building until he found the intruders in the warehouse and for a moment, he watched them closely before sneaking as quickly and quietly as he could to a niche behind some sort of shelf.

Lee's lips formed a frown. He could hear them talking, and he didn't like what he heard. The masks muffled their voices, so he was having difficulty recognizing them—if he even knew them, that was.

"—so think of how we're getting all this stuff _out_ before five, which by the way, we only have an hour and forty minutes to go," one of them said. Lee watched that person move the flashlight all around and had to shift out of the way before the light hit him; he wasn't prepared to let them know he was there yet.

He looked at the watch on his wrist before flipping the thing open. On the outside, it looked like an ordinary watch. When the thing was flipped open, it was quite extraordinary. He had hundreds of uses for the watch, but because he wanted to keep his heritage as an Arthlezenithite a secret, he hadn't used it since he was six years old.

As he looked at the tiny monitor through the goggles, he pushed and held in one of the buttons. He kept one ear on the conversation and the movement beyond the niche.

"Guys, we're in over our heads," one person reasoned.

"I don't think we can do this," another said.

Still holding the button, Lee risked taking a peek at the burglars. 'You bet you can't do this,' Lee thought as he watched the body movements for any indication as to who the leader might be. 'I'm not going to let you.'

"We _have_ to do this," said another. "Now just shut up so Neiji and I can think."

Lee's heart skipped a beat. _Neiji_. It wasn't _his_ Neiji, was it? The man he'd been teamed up with since they were eleven and graduated at the academy? He certainly hoped not. He decided it would be best to just pretend he hadn't heard that.

"I've got it," said one, "I know what to do."

Lee turned back to the monitor and felt a small smirk cross his face. He would _never_ let his friends see that smirk, but obviously they would never have that opportunity because when it came down to things, he wasn't who they thought he was. He wasn't born. He was created.

Seven little stars were on the monitor. He closed the watch, ready to jump out and apprehend those evil lawless beings.

xXx

"I've got it." Neiji said. "I know what to do." He turned to the others and paused to make sure he had their attention. "Shit, Kiba," he growled when he saw the boy. "Put that mask back on! If there are cameras in here," he started, but a voice interrupted him.

"There _are_ cameras in here, I can guarantee it." The voice said, and a person with goggles and a cloth wrapped around their head stepped out from behind a shelf near the door to the warehouse. They were wearing a Chunin vest, and definitely not any clothes he'd ever seen Lee wear but Neiji was sure it was Lee because he had never met anyone else in Konoha who had no chakra flowing through their circulatory system yet was a shinobi.

"But," he continued, most definitely a male, "I can also guarantee you thieves won't be needing to worry about those. What you _should_ worry about, is how you're _surrounded_ and by this time tomorrow, I'll have you in jail."

Neiji heard a collective gasp from his friends and looked around. Several people, clothed exactly the same as the one Neiji was so sure was Lee, did indeed surround them. Looking at them with the Byakugan, Neiji saw they were exactly the same as the stranger, not an ounce of chakra inside them.

How was it possible? Lee couldn't make shadow clones, so it wasn't possible he could make real clones like Naruto. There were very few shinobi who were able to do what Naruto could mostly because it cost an extreme amount of chakra in the process and few people had those chakra reserves. Naruto and Kakashi could both make real clones, but both were in jail. Who else could do it?

So, it wasn't Lee, was it? Neiji was at a loss trying to figure out how someone could even make clones and yet have their chakra invisible to his Byakugan eyes. Maybe there was something wrong with Neiji? No, because when he looked at his fellow teammates, their chakra was quite visible.

Shikamaru suggested, "Perhaps we could talk, Mister…?" he seemed to be probing for a name.

"I have no reason to talk to thieves," the figure said. "And neither do my companions."

"But wait!" one of Ino's friends said, "We _have_ to do this. You're a shinobi, aren't you? You should understand, if you'd just listen."

"Stealing is against the law," the stranger said. "I'm not sure if you noticed that or not."

Kiba growled, "Yeah, well, these bastards are going to print some shit about our Hokage and feed it to the public! We're wasting time with you."

"The newspaper is a respectable business, and there is no reason to believe the honorable editors and news writers would ever lie. There is nothing that the Great Tsunade-sama could not recover from. If you leave now, I may decide to let you off the hook. But I'm only going to give you to the count of five to be out of the building."

Oh yes, the stranger was _definitely_ Lee. Neiji knew it, and Ten-Ten nudged Neiji to say she knew it as well. There was only one person in the whole world who ever believed the world was made of black and white. Lee was that person, believing firmly that there was no way anyone could be considered 'gray'. Neiji and Ten-Ten shared a brief look before Neiji decided it better to take a risk. He knew how to get Lee riled up. Ten-Ten nodded slightly at Neiji, though Neiji really was curious how Lee could have made clones.

Stepping around his teammates, Neiji moved toward Lee and ended up bringing himself closer to one of the many pallets filled with newspapers. "What if I told you," Neiji began, "that the Churches and the Council of Elders want to condemn Tsunade-sama and take her to the noose?"

Lee's hand moved to a nin-kit attached to his backside. He pulled out several shuriken, his movements already slightly jerky with anger. Neiji and the others moved into defensive stances, pulling out their own choice weapons from various places where they were kept. "The Church is _honorable_!" he snapped. "The Council of Elders—" Neiji interrupted the rant smoothly.

"—is a bunch of old bastards who made it possible to ban the Church of the Four Goddesses." Neiji and Ten-Ten had to sit through three hours of Lee's furious ranting several years prior while they were _supposed_ to be working on a project at the academy when that had happened. They had been about seven at the time, so it would have been about ten years ago.

Ten-Ten piped up, "And those same old men belong to all the other religions that it _isn't_ illegal to believe in. Maybe the newspaper _is_ honorable, but those men are _bad_ men."

Lee's arms fell to his side and he glanced at the pallets of newspapers. Neiji pushed the final peg, putting faith in how well he knew Lee. "The Council of Elders may have threatened the newspaper to get them to print lies." Neiji knew it was more likely that the newspaper took a hefty bribe and that was all they needed. "But we are here because we can't allow these lies to hurt our Hokage."

Lee sighed and then nodded. "Then, with all faith, I will help you dispose of such filthy lies." He fiddled with his wrist for a moment and the clones disappeared. Neiji thought that would be the end of it, and Lee would ask what the plan was, but instead—very surprisingly—Lee took charge of the situation. "We will take these to my home. I have an incinerator that will vanquish their lies completely."

Ten-Ten and Neiji shared another look, though this was more confused than before. They knew Lee lived with Gai, and they also knew that there was no possible way any sort of incinerator was at Gai's house. From their experience with incinerators, they were giant ovens in which wood boxes could be put for cremating the dead. Gai did _not_ have one of those.

"And where do you live?" Shikamaru asked. The others had kept quiet, thankfully, until now.

"In the mountains," the stranger who could not possibly be Lee stated matter-of-factly. He dug into one pocket on his Chunin vest, pulling out a very weird looking string-like item. Both ends of the cord looked like headphone jacks, and one was plugged into his watch. They watched as he reached up to the mask he wore with the other end, pulling something out from behind his ear and plugging the other end of the wire into something there, though he never took the cloth from his head.

xXx

Lee always hated the feeling of pulling the tiny covering-plug from his head. It was incredibly unpleasant, and the feeling of inserting the electronic jack into his head was never any better. He always avoided doing so whenever possible, and usually he didn't have to.

Now, though, he knew that if he was going to help the thieves do something bad for the greater good, he had to. He pushed the unpleasant feelings aside and let his Ghost enter the streamline of data, connecting to the vast network that was set up by his long-gone race of people. It only took a few brief seconds to get inside Argeth's system and start the ship up. At the same time, he was able to send his Ghost to the control panel in the ship's bay area, opening the dock to the outside world.

The dock hadn't been opened in many years. Before the others could ask how they were getting over one-hundred thousand newspapers into the mountains, the earth began rumbling as though suffering a minor earthquake. It wasn't an earthquake. Lee set the coordinates on the ship and placed his Ghost in the Argeth's controls again to make sure nothing went wrong. As soon as Argeth had cleared the dock and exited the mountain, Lee activated the cloaking devices.

He ignored all the questions shot at him by the others; some of the questions weren't even for him. Some of them were just questions asked due to surprise and anxiety—the type that no one expected an answer to. Within moments, Lee was glancing at the others. "Argeth is on the way now," he told them, and knew from their body language that they were confused. "When Argeth gets here, I'll lower the lift and you'll have to load it from the ground. Try not to make too much noise while loading them, because the lift will be right in the street, and you don't want to wake anyone."

"Who is Argeth?" one asked him.

Lee grinned, but they couldn't see it. "He's my ship. My people used to have a whole fleet of them, but mostly they're scattered throughout the world now, and they're completely shut down so I can't locate them. Anyway, just be very quick loading. Half of you should load, the other half should come up with me to Argeth and unload."

Instantly several people stepped forward. "Okay then," Lee said. He checked Argeth's sensors with his Ghost, making sure everything was in working order. Argeth was, as usual, in perfect working order. He had taken care of Argeth, as was his duty in the world. He could be a shinobi, as long as he didn't shirk the reason why he was created in the first place.

The sound of rumbling thunder heralded Argeth's arrival. All anyone would think was that a storm was beginning to brew somewhere, because the thunder sound wasn't even that loud. Using his Ghost, Lee set the ship to hover above the street and he activated the lift, lowering it down into the street. "We're ready," he said. "Unloaders, you need to come with me. The rest of you, get these bay doors open and start getting ready to load the lift."

He didn't wait for them, but turned heel and raced back toward the exit of the building. Some of the others followed, Kiba was one of them. Lee was mad that Kiba was one of the thieves, but pressed that out of his mind. It was hard enough to concentrate on both his Ghost and reality. He didn't need extra thoughts.

Lee knew they were surprised to see the metal platform hovering a foot above the street, with thick cables that stretched upward toward nothing. Lee wasn't, and he stepped onto that metal platform. He looked at them as they hesitated. "Come on, I haven't got all day. We only have an hour to get it loaded."

They moved onto the lift, and Lee had the lift moving upward in no-time. Once inside the Argeth, he lowered the lift again. "Quit gaping." He told them, grinning as they stared around in wonder. They hadn't been able to see it until they got inside.

"Amazing," Kiba said.

xXx

Neiji glanced at the stranger before demanding, "Who _are_ you?"

The stranger seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, "Arzyle Arminiean. I have to go up to control. When the lift gets up here, it will stop on the floor. Stay out of the way of it until then. When it is unloaded, step back away from it and I'll send it back down."

It took a surprisingly short amount of time to load the strange ship. Forty minutes after they started, Shikamaru came up with the last load and said, "All clear."

That was when Arzyle came back. He said, "Okay, everyone on the lift."

Neiji said, "We need to see that these are destroyed."

"Too bad," Arzyle told him. "Get on the lift."

They had no choice but to climb onto the lift and were lowered to the ground. After that, the lift disappeared into nothingness in the sky, and the thundering sound of the ship disappeared into the distance. Neiji and the others made their way to the academy district, peeling the black clothes off to reveal their regular outfits underneath.

Neiji had a strange feeling about that Arzyle character. He was so much like Lee, but at the same time, he seemed so different. Something in him wanted to trust Arzyle, and that was unusual for Neiji. It took a lot for Neiji to want to trust someone—several years of building a relationship, to be exact.

Something _else_ told Neiji he most likely would never meet Arzyle again.

When they got to the academy district, they found Fuyumi, and she told them to meet her in the medic-academy building, room 3A. It was only a short while later that she came. "Okay," she said, "I'm going to repress your memories of tonight. That way, even under a truth serum, you won't be able to give yourselves away."

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**Thanks to: **supersillee06 (yeah, falling behind usually isn't a good idea), Nenecrazygirl (you better "believe it" hahaha!), Hiei's Cute Girl (I hope this chapter is also revealing...if it's not, you should read it again), Kagome Lady of Darkness, DarkRavie (I think you're a new reader. Are you a new reader?), Dark Inu Fan (Lee's cool), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (I was going to have him beat them all up, but then decided against it. Maybe next time), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Oh, I think he can keep a secret), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 34 after I posted chapter 35. 

ANSWER: AH!! Harry Potter stole my attention from this story! But I think since I've uploaded the last chapter, I also updated several other stories (or at least one other...) so, _yay!_ Hehehe...

_Just the other day my sweet daughter I was driving past 203 I walked up the stairs in my minds eye I remember how they would creak loudly (on my way to check for reviews)._


	36. Sleep Tea

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

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Chapter 36: Sleep Tea

Gaara of Sunagakure very rarely found himself in the position to be able to sleep. To say that he _never_ slept would be close to the truth, but not quite there. He could, but only with medication. Once he took that medicine, he would be out like a burnt out light-bulb within the space of an hour, and the medicine would relax his body to such an extent that the demon inside of him, Shukaku of the Sand, would be unable to take control of him.

The jar of medicine was on his desk, shipped to him in a larger quantity and earlier than usual because the person who was in charge of putting the medicine together for him had fished a half dead man out of the river and was going to deliver him to Konohagakure and the shinobi there. That had been almost two months ago, though.

The letter had stated, "I don't anticipate being there longer than a few days. Added to that the time it will take to travel, this amount should get you through until I can put together more." The medicine was in the form of tea ingredients. He needed only one regular sized tea-cup of it and he could sleep for three hours straight.

He couldn't use more than a half tablespoon of it at a time because he was already pushing the dosage. More than a half tablespoon would put him to sleep in such a way that he wouldn't wake up again. He had to settle for three hours of sleep out of thirty hours, because it took that long for it to filter out of his system. So, running on thirty hour days (twenty-seven of those hours awake) and with him being incredibly strong and able to control Shukaku's sand element, Gaara was the best choice to be Kazekage of Sunagakure.

After Gaara's battle with Naruto Uzumaki (Konoha's number one hyperactive ninja), Gaara had decided he too would shoot for the stars and make being Kazekage his life goal. One year ago, he had been asked to take up the position. He had accepted it—conditionally, of course. His brother, Kankuro, and his sister, Temari, would work as his advisors and in the event that he had to have someone as an ambassador to another shinobi village it would be either Kankuro or Temari. Whichever was available at that time would go.

The Elder Council of Sunagakure agreed readily. Then, they threw the bombshell at Gaara _after_ he had been sworn into office. He couldn't change his status as Kazekage unless he choose a successor—not that he wanted to after working so hard to even be considered for the position—but as Kazekage, he would have to break his family's original arrangements with the Yobidasu.

To be more precise, the arrangements were marital. Two weeks after he had been born, he had been betrothed to an unborn child. It was Ai Higurashi's child he was betrothed to. An ultrasound taken at the time revealed her child to be a girl, but after birth there was a surprise: twins were born. The agreement was put temporarily on the back burner until it could be decided which twin would be married to Gaara.

In the meantime, Gaara went to the Yobidasu for two weeks out of every year to spend with the girls. He could remember always being exhausted those days, and the younger twin always asked why. The older twin seemed to know why without asking. Shukaku had already been sealed inside him by then, and he was already taking medicine to help him sleep, but he was still considered to have full-blown insomnia.

As he grew up away from the twins, he was trained in the shinobi arts to become the ultimate weapon of Sunagakure. By the time the girls were three, they were already starting their training as Summoners and had already attached to their Level 3 summons. By the time he was five, he had already spilled blood. By the time he and the girls—they were only a few months younger—were six, it was decided that the younger twin would marry Gaara. He didn't even have to ask why. The elder twin disliked him and the younger twin followed him everywhere when he came to visit those two weeks of the year.

By the time they were eight, the younger twin—Kagome was her name—was told to take over the task of making his medicine. She was trained diligently for a full year before her father allowed her to do the job herself with only supervision. By the time they were twelve, she was released to do the job on her own not because her clan thought she was ready, but because the rest of her clan had died.

At the same time her clan was being massacred, Gaara had been part of an invasion planned on Konoha. He'd stopped taking the medicine she would mail him. He didn't care at the time if anyone else got hurt if Shukaku took him over. Mostly Shukaku would just take him hunting and after a full meal of bloody, uncooked meat, Shukaku would curl up in his body on the ground and sleep. He would be able to sleep then too.

That was probably why Gaara was a vegetarian. He wouldn't even eat fake meat. He could get needed nutrition from vitamin supplements rather than the real source. He always spent mornings after Shukaku's take-over vomiting when he saw what he had done. Just thinking about it brought the memory of metallic blood to his mouth and he had to gulp the water on his desk before he started gagging.

After his fight with Naruto, he'd started taking his medicine again. All the medicine he'd decided not to take got him through until he started receiving shipments from Kagome again. She had survived the attack on her clan and apologized for the lateness of the medication but her fields had been burned so she had to go farther than usual to get the needed herbs. In her letter at the time, she had also said he didn't need to come for his yearly visit to see her.

He hadn't listened. Six months later, his usual visiting time came around and he packed up and made his way to the Yobidasu. At the time, he had known there was an attack on the Yobidasu clan, but he didn't really know the extent of the damage. Kagome was still making repairs with the measly help of five others. Behind the once-great shrine, the Yobidasu gravestone was huge.

The cheerful happiness of his betrothed simply wasn't there anymore. She was mellow, covered in mud and grime, and she burst into tears when she saw him. "I told you not to come!" she had yelled. She ranted at him for coming, and he had ignored every word. He couldn't even remember all the things she'd said to him anymore.

"What really happened?" he asked her, but he received no answer as she hid her face in her hair shamefully and ran away from him. She used to have so many places she could hide, he remembered, but now those places had burned to the ground.

Her cousin, Sango, stepped forward to answer. Gaara had always liked Sango well enough. She wasn't as nice as Kagome, or as open, but she was very loyal to those she considered her friends. "It was Kikyou. She lost her mind and just attacked everyone. Kagome and I are the only ones left." He had glanced pointedly at the other four working on repairs to the building. "They're not really… well, _human_…" Sango had explained.

"Well, I'm not leaving." Gaara had said it, and meant it. He had stayed and helped as much as and wherever he could. The shrine had once been a formidable base, surrounded in a massive stone wall that was impregnable. The attack had clearly come from the inside. Blood and scorch marks stained the white stone of the wall and the courtyard. The front gate was off its hinges, but it seemed to have been battered _out_ instead of in.

The many buildings of the shrine were not much more than low walls and ash. A temporary shelter had been set up as they cleared debris away and attempted to rebuild one of the smaller buildings to take shelter in during the coming winter. Gaara had been able to work long hours due to his inability to sleep anyway, so as the others slept he would continue working. He'd managed to help them get two small buildings erected in those two weeks.

He'd even managed to catch Kagome alone and was able to talk to her about what happened to him and about what happened to her. She needed to vent about what happened to her and he needed someone to know what he was told he was. He needed someone to confirm that Naruto was right when he said Gaara didn't have to be a weapon. He figured if there was anyone in the world who would tell him he wasn't just a tool, Kagome would be that person.

Instead, when he asked her she said the strangest thing. "But you _are_ a weapon, Gaara. That's why you're a shinobi. Its how you _use_ yourself that makes the difference." At first, he wasn't reassured. He'd gone back home a few days after their discussion and while she seemed to be doing better after talking to him, he was only more confused.

Then when they were fourteen and after Gaara had been sworn into Kazekage office, Gaara had been told he would have to break off his engagement to Kagome. They had heard she was now head of her clan—he'd had to tell the Elder Council what happened—and the Kazekage couldn't marry the head of a clan. He felt it was more an issue of how she ended up clan head than simply because she _was_ clan head.

She was so angry with him when he broke off the engagement; she nearly strangled him to death. She might have if Sango and Itachi hadn't held her back. That woman could be downright scary when angered. Sunagakure almost lost another Kazekage that day. He was lucky she still felt it her duty to send his medicine after that. The brief letter he got with the large jar of medicine over two months ago was actually the first words she'd said to him.

She could hold grudges like no one else. Over a year had passed since he'd had to break off their engagement and she'd not said one thing to him. All of his letters to her had been returned unopened. He didn't even dare try going to see her. If she would return all his letters without even opening them, he would bet anything she would kill him on sight.

But all that brought Gaara back to his original problem. He couldn't sleep and he was getting worried. As Kazekage, his duty to his people was to protect them. How could he protect them from himself? The people of Suna _still_ feared him even though he was Kazekage. A very minute amount of that fear came from his new title, but most of it came from Shukaku.

They all knew what Shukaku was capable of. What made that fear even worse was that they thought Gaara and Shukaku were one being. When they looked at him, they saw the raccoon demon. So, inevitably, they feared him as a consequence.

And that jar of medicine was getting incredibly low. He'd noticed last night when he watched Temari make his nightly dose of medicated tea. It was an awful tasting concoction that could, unfortunately, not be sweetened with sugar or milk without losing its medicated properties. He usually didn't bother watching Temari make it. He would usually stare out of the large window-wall over the city he protected and ran over his thoughts.

Where was his usual shipment? Had something happened to Kagome? He supposed it was possible. Three weeks prior, Sango had showed up in Suna with a Sunagakure native Gaara didn't exactly know. She had come to see Gaara and pay her respects when she first arrived. He had taken time out of a too-busy schedule much to the Elder Council's disappointment to show Sango around and her friend—a religious man by his robes—had been delighted to meet the Kazekage personally.

Sango had said Kagome left to go home a couple days before Sango had left to come to Sunagakure. It took approximately seven days to walk to Sunagakure from Konohagakure. The trip from Konohagakure to the Yobidasu territory was about a week and a half worth of travel, if pushed.

Not only could he not sleep on his own, and he had to worry over the safety of Suna _from him_, but honestly he was worried for the safety of Kagome. Just because he couldn't marry her due to technicalities, he still loved her as much as he loved Temari. Granted, he couldn't actually picture himself ever loving her in any intimate form, but if they had married he was sure he would have ended up learning to love her like that.

So where was she? And what was she doing?

He turned to face the window that took up an entire wall in his office. The sun was rising, finally. Temari would get up soon and she'd wake Kankuro. The two would get ready for their day before heading to Kazekage tower to help Gaara sort through infinite amounts of problems. Their day would be interrupted several times by one or more of the Elder Council or some other nut job that needed something. Temari would deal with handling the mission distribution for Suna's few Genin teams and their Jounin leaders. Kankuro would meet up with the three Chunin shinobi currently assigned to the newly formed Suna shinobi academy and find out how the young students were faring.

It was probably going to be a rather ordinary day. He had a lot of those 'ordinary' days, if twenty-seven hour days could be considered ordinary. He did more in one day than anyone else around did. He hoped Kagome was okay. He would have to see if Sango had heard from her later in the day. He wouldn't disturb Sango so early in the morning. Last he heard, she was sharing bed with a monk, and that was disturbing just to think about. Walking in on something like that…? Out of the question.

With a sigh, he turned the lamp on his desk. The bulb cast a yellow glow across the surface of his desk, but wasn't so bright it would light up the whole room. He could see, and that's all he cared about. He brought the stack of papers toward him that he'd been going through when he woke up. It was all old news, most of it telegraphed messages from his spies in Konohagakure.

There were a lot of interesting things going on in Konoha. It was definitely no secret that Naruto Uzumaki had returned to Konoha, and from the look of things, he'd brought home a missing-nin. Sasuke Uchiha. Gaara recalled the boy, though if he were truthful, Sasuke hadn't made as much an impression on Gaara as Naruto did. That was probably why Gaara didn't give half a rat's ass whether or not Sasuke had returned.

Naruto's return did interest Gaara though. He had one spy specifically assigned to bring any and all information they could on Naruto. For two and a half years, Naruto had practically disappeared from the face of the earth, except for a single visit he'd apparently made to Sunagakure two years prior. Gaara had no idea why he came, and to him it was only hear-say since he had no proof the boy had come. Gaara certainly hadn't seen him then, and that was before Gaara was Kazekage.

He read a few reports from various spies pertaining to the local economy in Konoha and how that affected Konoha's populace, and a few reports that dealt with techniques witnessed being taught in Konoha's medical academy. Then he got to the interesting reports he _wanted_ to see. Naruto Uzumaki. Temari said Gaara had an unhealthy obsession over Naruto, but Kankuro disagreed and said it was a healthy rivalry.

Gaara didn't know what to call it. He only knew that Naruto was very similar to himself, and that he didn't want to be second to Naruto. He also knew Shukaku had something very personal against Kyuubi. If he was going to beat Naruto the next time they fought—and they _would_ battle again—he needed all the leverage he could get against Naruto. If that meant he knew what Naruto's every secret was, then that's what he would get.

No one ever said war was fair, and playing dirty was something Shukaku had taught him from a young age. The little scamp was always whispering things to Gaara. The things he learned from Shukaku were useful, and they made him powerful. Since his battle with Naruto, he'd learned not to take Shukaku's power for granted, and not to rely so solely on Shukaku. But he was by no means turning honorable or good.

A devilish grin spread across his face as he delved into the reports. Besides… Raccoons were mischief makers, like foxes. And _someone _had to be king of the trash pile, right? There couldn't be two. He could hear Shukaku laughing from that prison inside him but ignored the raccoon.

Naruto was ordered to take charge of Sasuke Uchiha's probation. That was a little odd. Probate for missing-nin was usually three years with two ANBU to keep tabs on them. It was one of those standardized shinobi rules in most hidden villages. He pulled a yellow legal pad of paper toward him and grabbed a pen, uncapping it to write himself a note. He would have to have someone follow up on this information. Sasuke might be someone to investigate. Why would the standard rules not apply for that guy?

Of course, Gaara was hardly worried about Sasuke being a threat. The guy couldn't stand up to him before, but Naruto could. Naruto was the one to worry about. And aside from that, there was always the chance that the change had nothing to do with Sasuke. Naruto may have been involved in the decision to change the standard rules. He read a few more reports. They had piled up for a while now because Temari insisted he do _real_ work (as though these reports weren't real work to read!) before messing around with his obsessions.

Naruto was serving community service for destroying an apartment complex scheduled for demolition. He'd always known Konoha was a waste of space. Now he knew also that Konoha also housed a populace of idiots (Naruto probably was the only one even worth anything there, since Konoha bred only weaklings). It made absolutely no sense to give someone community service for destroying something that was to be destroyed anyway. He made a note to have that further investigated as well. There had to be more to that story.

Naruto was being trained once more by Kakashi Hatake, though Naruto was to be treated as an equal to the Jounin. That certainly said a lot about Naruto's power levels. Gaara knew Naruto wasn't any higher level than a Genin formally. He might be higher informally though. As Kazekage, it was Gaara's privilege to watch the Chunin final exams (the tournament), and even before becoming Kazekage, he would watch the Chunin final exams simply to see if anyone ever looked like they might be worth more than half a pebble. It was unsurprising when he found none of them could ever compete with his own power levels, and he sometimes felt he had wasted a week of his life watching them.

Kakashi was training them in Training Ground 13, though what they did there was unknown. Access to the grounds was limited since the keys to the grounds were kept by the Hokage herself. All that report stated was that Team Kakashi would go into the training ground dry and come out wet. It was also stated that very loud, moving water could be heard from the training ground. Gaara's spy managed to get a glimpse into the grounds when the gate was open, but all he could see was a massive pit.

Gaara supposed it was possible that the pit contained water and that Kakashi was teaching his teammates water techniques that might not be learned at the Konoha Genin academy. It didn't seem like he was going to get more information on that one, but he knew his spy would try to do so.

Another report stated that it was likely that Naruto and his teammate Sakura Haruno were currently intimately involved. The spy had witnessed Naruto and Sakura kissing each other under a bridge after a dispute over Naruto's choice of reading material—apparently the boy liked porn novels and Sakura wouldn't let him 'be corrupted'. The two's intimacy was unsurprising, seeing how hard Naruto had fought against Gaara for the girl when Gaara practically had her hostage.

In an ordinary case scenario, that type of information could be used against his rival. However, as Gaara had learned early on, Naruto gained quite a bit of an edge when he was riled up. He couldn't use Sakura to his advantage. She would end up disadvantaging him, thus rendering the purpose she was supposed to serve absolutely useless and becoming a waste of effort.

The final report he had on Naruto was short. Naruto, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake had been put in jail. His spy hadn't been able to get information on _why_ they were in jail. All his spy knew was that the four were in jail until Friday morning. Gaara looked at the date provided on the report and saw that Naruto would be released today sometime. His spy would undoubtedly be waiting and ready to follow and hopefully find out why Naruto had been in jail. The news was strange. What could Naruto have done?

He made a note to have that investigated more, even though his spy would already know to do so.

He turned to the last reports from his spies and found something peculiar. They all spoke of a massive power outage in Konohagakure. The interesting thing was that even though many places in Konoha have back-up generators, the entire city was hit and stayed dark for over twenty-four hours. Only the hospitals and the prison remained with power. No one could explain the power outage. The reports had flooded in since Tuesday on the issue and said damages were still being calculated due to the power outage, but one of the spies did stumble on the information that the Konohagakure Sunday Edition Newspaper had been completely cleared out during the power outage.

Gaara frowned and made a note to have that investigated more. Why a _newspaper_? Why would someone steal all those newspapers? It seemed just too weird to be at all serious.

He jotted down a few notes on his legal pad; things he wanted to remember from the reports for the most part. Some of the notes were his thoughts, and others were specific passages from the reports that he thought were curious enough to warrant being written down. He was just about finished organizing his reports in their proper filing cabinets when Kankuro entered the room.

That was odd enough to warrant full attention. It was a half-hour too early, wasn't it? He checked his watch. Yes, it was. Kankuro and Temari usually had breakfast together and then they would come together to Hokage tower and bring Gaara a breakfast salad. Yes, it was strange for Gaara to live in the desert and be a vegetarian. There weren't all that many animals—his old hunts did nothing for the animal numbers—and it was a _desert_. They had cactuses in surplus, and tumbleweed by the dozens. However, most of their food was imported from other countries.

So why was Kankuro showing up alone this morning? "Is Temari alright?" he asked in his usual monotone voice. Homicidal Shukaku always whispered to him that he should cheer up a bit. Things could be worse, as Shukaku said. Shukaku would know, of course, because the demon always made those 'worse' things happen.

"Yes, Temi's okay," Kankuro frowned. Gaara already knew that 'worse' was about to happen, and it seemed this time it wouldn't even be Shukaku's fault. He usually knew when Shukaku could be to blame, being that he was by the general order of things always there when Shukaku caused problems.

"Then why are you here so early?"

"That's the thing…" Kankuro said in a delay tactic.

"Spit it out," Gaara told his brother.

"Well, Temi and I were on our way to breakfast where we usually go when we ran into someone…er…rather surprising."

Gaara fought the urge to tap his foot impatiently. "And that would be…?"

"Someone who you should probably see as soon as possible."

Could Gaara throttle his own brother and get away with it? Well, he was Kazekage after all, and many people thought he was either unstable or insane. He could probably scrape by with less than ten years in prison for unsanctioned murder. Then again, he _was_ Kazekage… he could simply write out the order for Kankuro's death himself and no more questions would be asked. "Who _is_ it?" Gaara demanded coldly. He could be patient if he really wanted to be.

"A woman who even gods have every right to fear? She-devil, to put it nicely… Otherwise known as your murderer if you don't get to Parson's Diner _very_ quickly…" Gaara's eyes widened as he knew who Kankuro was talking about pretty much from the beginning. "Really, little bro, you shouldn't have broke off the engagement. She's still pissed about it."

He could even feel Shukaku shudder in terrified anticipation. "Parson's Diner?" he asked. He received a brief nod and was instantly out the door. If she was in Suna, he could stop worrying about her health…and focus on his own.

A few people glanced nervously at Gaara as he rushed past them on the street. He usually didn't leave Hokage tower until after 10 AM. He took his meals in private or with his siblings if he felt the fancy for company. That was how it had been since he'd been a boy and his uncle had betrayed him. He didn't trust people, because it would be broken anyway.

Parson's Diner was a quaint little place open at all hours of the day. It was where Temari and Kankuro ate breakfast every morning, and where they ordered his breakfast salad despite the cost of the imported fruits. Booths were lined up along the walls, and tables and chairs covered much of the space between the booths and the bar area. Not many people came to Parson's Diner for breakfast, but there were enough to keep the place open during that time.

Temari had sat in her usual booth with two people seated across from her; one had black hair, the other had silver hair. He knew who the black haired one was instantly. The silver haired one he figured he'd have to see their face first and that was a little hard with their backs to him. Temari looked uncomfortable, only smiling when she saw him. She flagged him over and he felt he was walking with something kin to what death row inmates felt as they went to the noose forming in his gut.

He made it to the table and realized, with some amount of surprise, that he knew the silver-haired man at least vaguely. Kabuto, he recalled was the name. Orochimaru's servant who had joined the Chunin exams under cover…

Kagome tapped a finger irritably on the table. "Gaara," she said his name as though it were poison on her tongue.

Temari hastily got out of her seat and grabbed Kabuto by the arm, dragging the man to his feet. "Come on. Give them some privacy." Temari said.

Gaara's eyes locked with Kagome's and he found he simply could not look away. It was as though he were hypnotized by the angry fires still burning in those dark blue orbs. She'd always been able to do that to him; stop him from thinking about anything other than just how beautiful she really was and how gorgeous her eyes were.

Somewhere in the distance, he heard Kabuto asking, "Uh, are you sure it's okay to leave them alone together?" He heard Temari's nervous laughter and a brief 'no', but he was so transfixed by those lovely, fiery blue eyes he didn't actually register the words.

"Sit down, you jerk!" Kagome snapped and he was abruptly released from the spell she seemed to have woven on him. It was terrible, because even though he kept thinking she was the most beautiful thing on the planet, and she was nice, and he did love her… he simply didn't love her in the way that marriage required.

He sat down, unable to even muster the energy for grace. "Kagome," he breathed, not sure what to think of her sudden arrival.

She frowned. "I have a lot to say, so shut up and listen." She told him seriously. "I'm not safe at home. Some freaky snake-man kidnapped me from my house in the middle of the night with the help of the villagers I promised to protect. He tortured Kabuto, stole some very important items from me, and was going to inject my body with all sorts of questionable potions. Ergo, I need a place to stay and the least you could do for me is give me that place to stay."

She was breathless when she finished. He blinked at her. "You're not here to kill me?" he questioned, almost suffering shell-shock from the knowledge.

She frowned. "I'm still debating it," she told him. "And your death is still favorable at this point."

His eyes went wide and he knew it. She probably could kill him too. That was not good. Angry woman with Summoning capabilities equaled Gaara mauled to death by rampant hungry demons. She wasn't the best in a fight with weapons, but he knew it was very likely that her vow to never Summon again would be broken in a heartbeat if she really felt vengeful towards him. He had really hurt her, after all.

Did she know that Temari and Kankuro had beaten him soundly for breaking the engagement in the first place? If she didn't know, should he tell her?

"Youcanstayatmyplaceifyouwantto." He spoke so fast, his head nearly started spinning.

She still managed to understand. "I don't want to stay in a place you stay in." she told him seriously. "Kabuto will be staying with me, and the place needs to have multiple rooms because I'm going to call Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara in to stay with me as well."

Gaara almost cringed under the overbearing pressure of her angry aura. "My house has plenty of rooms for you to use, and I don't stay there anyway. I sleep in my office at Kazekage tower now."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say to his ex-fiancé. Why was it that in his entire life, _she_ was the only person he had ever come to fear _unconditionally_ when she was angry? He knew very well that if given a weapon, she would be more likely to injure herself than cause anyone else injury. He also knew that she was still fairly weak at Summoning. The thing that made her strong was the sheer amount of Summoning she could do before tiring when she was at full strength and that was in direct relation to her being a Combination Summoner (which was by all accounts incredibly rare except she still sucked at it).

So why did he fear her again? He simply couldn't understand himself when it came to her.

"Oh, yes, how could I forget?" she demanded. "You're so career-oriented, you would not only give _me_ the boot, but now even your house isn't worthy of your greatness so you sleep somewhere else?" She had a napkin in her hand and was shredding it to tiny pieces—SLOWLY. Shukaku demanded he crawl into a tree and hide, but he couldn't do that now or it would only get worse.

"It's not that," he tried, but excuses weren't what she wanted to hear.

"In case you didn't know," she bit out, "it really made me feel like _crap_ to be rejected by you! In all my life, I'd never been more humiliated. It was hard enough to lose my family and friends in a massacre, but no, you felt it necessary to lay the final brick on me, huh? You had become the stability in my life. I felt like I could depend on you to always come back. I bet you couldn't _wait_ to get rid of me after you found out what Kikyou did—after you found out what _I_ am capable of doing!" She was glaring at him with hurt and disgust in her eyes. "Go on! Say it! You know you want to. I—AM—A—MONSTER! I'm just like my sister. Once a twin, always a twin, right Gaara? Isn't that what you said when we were ten?"

He was stunned. Was that how she felt? She was getting up out of the booth. He knew she was going to try running, so he got up too and grabbed her arms, spinning her to face him. "Don't run away from this." He told her. Tears splashed down her face and onto her dirty, sandy clothes. He had never gotten a chance to tell her why he broke off the engagement before she tried to kill him—quite literally—that day. He'd tried telling her in letters, but all of them were returned.

The issue was unresolved, and had been for over a year. "Why shouldn't I?" she asked hotly. "There's nothing more between us, because you're too scared of me. Who would want a monster like me anyway?"

She struggled to get him to remove his firm grip on her upper arms. He felt like shaking her, but refrained. Some of the local patrons were staring open-mouthed at Gaara and the dirty looking girl. There he was, Kazekage, in expensive clothes, trying to get someone who looked like no more than a pauper to listen to him. Add to that the fact that he wasn't using Shukaku's power to get his gains and people were confused. Even more confusing was that Gaara didn't have his gourd with him, and he took that everywhere.

"Stop it, Kagome," he told her. He almost spilled about the real reason why he broke their engagement—that it was by the Elder Council of Sunagakure's order—but decided against it. If it hadn't been for the Elder Council, he would have married Kagome when they were eighteen as the contract had said. But he wouldn't have liked it and he knew that now.

It would have been a decision he would have regretted for the rest of his life, because once it was made, he would never have left her nor would he have allowed her to leave. She was feeling inadequate now because he'd broken the engagement. He had been feeling inadequate his whole life and thought an arranged marriage was the only way he would ever have someone to love.

He had to figure out a way to explain his actions without involving the Elder Council. If he did that, her feelings of inadequacy would only remain, and honestly, he would do the same if it were Temari he were speaking to now. He wanted her to be happy. Besides that, a happy Kagome was a lot better than a seriously pissed off Kagome.

"Kagome, you aren't a monster. If you want to see a monster, open your eyes." She was squinting her eyes shut as she struggled. Her eyes flew open when he told her to look. "You're just an incredibly temperamental girl with anger management issues." He attempted a smile to tell her he was joking…even if he completely meant that part. "I, on the other hand, had a homicidal demon sealed in me after I was born. That's why I'm an insomniac—because if I sleep, the demon takes over and does whatever it feels like doing." Her shocked look told him she hadn't been aware of that fact.

"Does the medicine work?" she asked, calming considerably and seeming somewhat tentative toward their conversation.

"Yes, and by the way, I need more. But back on point, I don't think you're a monster. To say I of all people think that of you would be laughable—if I cared to laugh that is. What you are capable of doing doesn't scare me because I've already done a lot of it. I have been trained as a shinobi since I could walk. People don't stop and talk to me about the weather or ask how my day is going. They see me as a weapon, and people don't talk to their weapons. Just because I broke our engagement doesn't mean I don't love you, Kagome. The difference there is that if we married, we'd be stuck. You're like a… another Temari. Aggressive and not afraid to talk back to me. Granted, that is something I would want in a woman…" he had to admit that. He couldn't stand the thought of living the rest of his life with someone who thought they had to tip-toe around him every minute of the day.

She giggled and wiped moist eyes. "I-I never realized that's how you felt," she said. "I mean, honestly, I kind of felt the same way. It's just that my papa wanted us to marry so bad…"

"I know." He released her, feeling assured she would not chase off. "I know you'd do anything to please your father…even after he died. It's just because I don't think we should be trapped in something like that. You're no monster. Please trust me when I say there is someone out there who will love you how you deserve, but I'm just not that—"

He had tried to finish. He wasn't used to making sentimental speeches to begin with, and then to have it interrupted because a girl had thrown herself at him and knocked him to the ground…he was startled. Startled enough to whack his head on the hard wood of the booth seat. "Bugger," he moaned, his head smarting.

"Sorry, sorry!" she yelped noisily. "I was just so happy."

"I see that," he groaned. He rubbed his hand on the back of his head and pulled away blood.

"I can fix that," she promised, but he shoved her back.

"Don't worry about it. I'd rather you didn't screw up any more of me than necessary. I could've died today, thank you very much." He pulled himself onto his feet, refusing the urge to sway as his head spun. He had been completely out of character, but she always drove that reaction out of him. He had no idea what special ability she possessed, but she could get the dead to act out of character if she tried hard enough.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you the chance to explain yourself sooner," she told him.

It was probably a good thing she hadn't, he thought, because otherwise she would have known the full truth: the Elder Council forced the decision. "You can repay me by cooking me dinner tonight," he told her shortly. "Vegetarian, if you don't mind."

"As long as you pay for the groceries." She told him. "I don't have any money."

He sighed. "Go figure. You never do." He rubbed his head again, wincing. "I'm going to the hospital." He waved over a waitress and the girl came with fear in her eyes. Coward, he thought. "Let this young lady order whatever she likes and bill me for it."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama," the waitress said, bowing hastily several times.

"You don't have to do that, Gaara," Kagome told him.

He rolled his eyes at her. "I owe you, and I always pay my dues." He said seriously. "Sit down and have a nice breakfast. I'll send someone to show you to my house, and alert Sango to your arrival."

"She's still here?" Kagome asked.

He glared at her. "I have a job to do, Kagome. Can I go do it now?"

"Oh, right… but you're still a career-oriented jerk," she insisted.

"If I wasn't, would you still recognize me?" he teased her, before wondering internally if he'd suffered brain damage from that blow to the head. Now that he had Kagome calmed down, he wondered what he had been so afraid of her for. He was bigger than her, stronger than her, and could keep his head in a fight ten times better than her. So she was a Combination Summoner—big deal? Not really, considering when push came to shove if she got into trouble she froze up and couldn't remember how to Summon.

Yes, she did have fast reflexes in her right hand and arm but slaps could only do so much damage and again…he was faster than her. So what was it about angry, violent women that terrified him? Or, in particular, THIS angry, violent woman. Temari was the same and didn't strike such fear in his heart…

He left Kagome at the restaurant and headed to the hospital. Damn, his head was really hurting. He hoped he didn't have a concussion. Wouldn't that just make his day?

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**Thanks to: **supersillee06, Rilley Lily Nikita (welcome to the story), Dark Inu Fan, sn1ck3rD00dl3, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami, snowecat, DarkRavie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 35 after I posted chapter 36. 

ANSWER: Just in case you all didn't understand from this chapter, it is now the last day Team Kakashi will be in jail. They get released next chapter. And I laughed my ass off 'cause I made Sasuke and Naruto gay. -raises eyebrow- Scared yet? Please refer to this story's summary. Thanks for reading!

_Time after time I lose again, night after night I wake up crying 'cause my world is dying (and no one is reviewing...)._


	37. Gay Boys

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

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Chapter 37: Gay Boys

They were late in their release of Naruto. Sasuke was getting impatient. He, Sakura, and Itachi were waiting in front of the prison for Naruto to show up. Itachi and Sasuke had been released at 8:00 AM from their jail cell and made it out of the prison by 9:00 after a lengthy release procedure. Sakura had been released from her cell at 8:00 as well and made it out of the prison by 9:07, not long after Sasuke and Itachi.

All of them stood on the Kyper's Creek bridge waiting for Naruto to come out. It was well after ten now, so he should've been there. Sasuke grabbed Sakura's wrist, eliciting a gasp from her at the contact, and pulled her wrist toward him so he could check the time for the hundredth time that hour.

"Well, I'm bored," Itachi said. "I'm going to find something to do. Make sure you two and Naruto are at Training Ground 13 at 1:00." He took off down Kyper's Creek as Sakura glared at his back.

"Making us train when we just got out of jail…" Sakura muttered. "Clinically insane… There should be laws preventing this treatment…" Sasuke grabbed her wrist and looked at her watch again. "Would you _stop_ that?" she asked him, but didn't pull her arm away. A sprinkling of cherry coloring had spread across her cheeks. "It's getting annoying."

"Annoying because you want more touches, or annoying because you don't want any?" Sasuke asked her with one eyebrow raised. He lifted himself onto the rail of the bridge, watching her closely. Her face had turned an interesting shade of red that didn't match her hair at all. He ran a finger along one of the lines in the x-shaped scar on his face. "Doesn't it bother you that I'm scarred, weak, and a deserter?"

She flushed and looked away from him. "Honestly? I don't care about the scars. I don't think you're weak at all. The idea of that is just plain silly… and sometimes people need to get away to find themselves. I'm just glad you're home…"

"Hm," he said thoughtfully. "Your thinking is flawed; you didn't need to get away. Naruto didn't need to. What makes you think I got away to 'find myself'?"

"Because… just because!" she shouted suddenly. He gripped the railing tight to keep from falling off due to shock. "Look, stop trying to make sense of everything. Sometimes logic just doesn't fit in the equation! You went away, but you came back. You only did it once, so just don't do it again."

"You're wrong again," he told her. "That was my second time leaving. If I've done it twice, who says I won't end up doing it again?"

She opened her mouth to scream, but someone _else_ answered. "You're not leaving." Both teens turned to face Naruto. He was walking with his orange and black jacket slung over his shoulder. His black tee-shirt hung on him as if he'd not had a proper meal in a week. Black rings of sleeplessness had formed around blue eyes that were glossier than usual.

Sakura's eyes became instant waterworks. She rushed toward the boy in the orange pants and threw her arms around him, sobbing as if she'd seen a loved one die. "Naruto, oh my god, are you okay, I'm so sorry, please don't ever do that again, oh my god I'm so sorry that happened to you, I yelled at the warden when we were released I was so mad at him, I'm so sorry!"

Naruto grimaced and pat her on the head awkwardly. "Um, yeah, sorry Sakura-chan. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Are you okay?" she asked as she sniffled and clung tighter to the boy. Even from the three foot distance Sasuke was at, he heard ribs protesting. "Is your back okay? Did the medics check on it? We should take you to the hospital!"

"I'm okay," Naruto told her. "Just pretty starved." It looked like Naruto had a sudden inspirational thought because his face lit up. "Hey, Sakura-chan. Um, do you want to go to Ichiraku with me for lunch? I mean…they've got good Ramen…and um…" he trailed off as Sasuke couldn't contain snorted laughter. "What's your problem?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Ramen is the only thing on their menu, idiot." Sasuke shook his head. "I'm off," he said, turning away from the two. It was obvious that Naruto wanted 'alone' time with Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura ran over and grabbed his hand. "Come with us! Naruto's treating us to lunch. Never turn down a free meal!" Obviously Sakura didn't want to go by herself to lunch with Naruto… What was up with that?

"I'm not hungry," Sasuke lied. His stomach chose that precise moment to growl noisily. Sakura's eyes became damp ping-pong balls. "I'm really not," he tried again. Again his stomach gave him away.

Naruto saw Sakura's near-sobbing state and panicked as the blonde was prone to do. "Yeah, Sasuke, I'm totally treating, so you should come! Sakura, see, he's going to come!" Sasuke hadn't even answered… or had a chance to… "See? So don't cry!"

Sasuke did _not_ miss the brief look of triumph that passed across Sakura's face. The little witch manipulated Naruto… with a remarkably small amount of effort! Amazing. How long had she been able to do that? "You'll come?" Sakura asked, her hands folded in plea in front of her, her eyes still watery. How _did_ she call tears up at will?

"Whatever…" Wait a minute… she'd just manipulated him too! Damn it. How could he let himself fall into that obvious trap?

Sakura cheered before planting a kiss on each boy's cheek. Both boys felt their cheeks heat up at the affection before she grabbed Naruto's hand and—still holding Sasuke's hand—dragged both boys down Kyper's Creek Road toward the city. "Now no more fighting, you two!" she ordered.

"Okay, okay!" Naruto agreed hastily, "I don't look good in gray anyway."

Sasuke said, "You don't look all that great in orange either, yet you wear it." Naruto threw a sassy 'oh yeah' look at Sasuke but Sakura tugged roughly on each of their arms.

"Stop it," Sakura told them both.

"He started it," they both said in unison. Right after that, they glared at each other and said in unison, "I did not."

"Honestly, if you two don't stop it right now, I'm going to spread word all over the town that you guys are secretly in love." Sakura warned.

"You wouldn't dare," Sasuke said right when Naruto said, "No, Sakura-chan, it's not true! Whoever told you that is lying!" Sasuke had wondered if Naruto was as blonde as his hair… Apparently he was.

"Naruto…" Sakura stopped walking, putting her hands on her hips to perfect her 'I'm glaring at you for a reason' look. "I _just_ made that up!"

"But why would you do that?" Naruto questioned her. "I mean, yeah, you _should_ know that's hardly true. I mean… I'm straight. I've wanted you to go out with me for years… and that day under the bridge was…" Naruto threw a smug look at Sasuke and breathed out, _"special…_"

Okay, Sasuke was officially confused. What exactly happened between Naruto and Sakura under the bridge, and why did he suddenly feel like he had been bested by his friend?

Sakura's face was an unhealthy shade of pink. "N-Naruto, n-nothing even happened. I mean, it's not like we were kissing, Sasuke! Honestly! We weren't! I mean… We're only fifteen for heaven's sake! We didn't even do anything! We were kissing, I mean, we _weren't_. We weren't kissing!"

Naruto beamed at her. "Oh we were." He told her. Sasuke realized what Naruto was doing, finally. He'd been a bit slow on the uptake, but Naruto was a hard one to read sometimes. Naruto had figured out Sakura had purposefully manipulated him. This was his weird form of revenge. Embarrassment.

"We weren't, Sasuke! I promise!" Sakura seemed to think it mattered to Sasuke who she went around kissing. Her life was her own, but he'd been manipulated too. He decided he would join in Naruto's fun.

He threw a look of cold disgust on his face and glanced from his best friend to Sakura and back again, making sure she noticed his look. "You kissed _Naruto_?" he asked her.

"Oh yes," Naruto smirked and moved to Sakura's side, wrapping an arm around her waist almost possessively. Humored blue eyes locked with nervous green ones. "And you _liked_ it. It's okay. You can tell Sasuke. I mean, we're all teammates, right?"

"No, Naruto, don't say anything!" Sakura squeaked, covering his mouth.

"He doesn't need to." Sasuke pointed out. "Your denial proves the truth in his words." He plastered on his best 'I don't care anymore, I'm going to have selective hearing and sight for anything concerning you' face.

"Please, Sasuke, don't listen to him!"

Naruto laughed. "Come on, Sakura-chan, you know you love me! We can prove it to Sasuke right here and now! We'll just show him!"

"But I love Sasuke!" Sakura insisted.

Sasuke had a tough time keeping himself from laughing at the look on her face. She was trying so hard to convince them, it seemed more like she was trying to convince _herself_. "So to show your supposed _love_," Sasuke drawled carefully, "you go around kissing other people? I'm definitely feeling the love now." He leveled narrow eyes at her.

Sakura's lower lip trembled. She peeled herself away from Naruto and threw herself at Sasuke, much to the surprise of both boys. They had figured she would get so flustered she'd take off running, find Ino, and complain about how boys sucked. Instead, she locked lips with Sasuke, much to the boy's surprise.

Naruto stared, open-jawed, for several seconds before laughing boldly. Sasuke couldn't help it. He started laughing too, mid-kiss. Due to his poorly timed laughter, two seconds later he was on the ground with a Sakura-sized handprint on his face. "That was our first kiss, Sasuke, and you wrecked it! I hate you Naruto!"

"What?" Naruto asked. "I'm not the one who laughed in the middle of the kiss!" Naruto was knocked with a perfectly timed punch right onto his best friend.

"Oomph!" Sasuke breathed out heavily as the wind was forcibly knocked from him by his friend's fall. He might not have been able to feel the pain accompanied by that, but unfortunately he could not escape the fact that the wind was knocked from him.

"Just for that," Sakura yelled, pointing at them both, "I'm going to tell everyone you two are having a wild love affair!" She took off running down the deserted Kyper's Creek Road toward the city.

Naruto rolled off Sasuke and massaged his bottom. "Damn, what are your abs made of? Rocks?"

"Concrete." Sasuke joked with shallow breaths. "It's cheaper to purchase and mold than to have stone custom cut." He sat up and looked at his hands. Where he had landed on the ground, his hands had scraped the flesh off. He would have to bandage those up before they got infected. "You don't think she's really going to go around telling people that, do you?"

Naruto shrugged. "She probably will but it's not like _I_ have to worry. You might. Your fan-club is about to get bigger." He got to his feet and brushed himself off, grinning from ear to ear. He picked up his previously discarded jacket and pulled it on stiffly. "I don't _have_ a fan-club."

Sasuke watched Naruto for a moment from his place on the ground. Was Naruto serious? He had a _fan-club_? He knew he used to…but hadn't expected he would still have one. Naruto held a hand down to Sasuke to help him up. Sasuke reached up and took it. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand and wrist firmly with his two hands, pulling him up as Sasuke stood. "What now?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto slung his arm around Sasuke's shoulder and began leading him down Kyper's Creek toward the city. "Now, is lunch time, lover." He joked. "And you are my date to Ichiraku…because I'm making you pay."

"That hardly seems fair," Sasuke pointed out. "You have more money than I currently do. I saw your last bank draft."

Naruto waved off his comment. "You're the working man in this relationship," he said. "All I do is walk on water and occasionally go off to war. You work at Steinem's. Therefore, you get the honor of paying."

Sasuke couldn't keep in the laugh that wanted to escape him. "Right." He didn't shrug Naruto away. What would the point be? He felt as if Naruto was as close as he could ever get to a family. He'd realized he would likely never be a family with Itachi. The two were getting along well enough… considering neither was dead… yet. But there was so much mystery to Itachi that Sasuke knew would keep them apart.

He'd grown up with Naruto, though. He felt Naruto was slowly accepting him again. He didn't need forgiveness yet, he supposed. When Naruto was ready to forgive him, he would.

Sasuke realized Naruto was talking… "So what do you think of that idea?" Naruto asked.

"I ignored everything you just said," Sasuke admitted unapologetically. "What was the idea?"

Naruto released Sasuke and glared at him with that old spark in his eyes that said 'I am _so_ going to put dead fish in your bed'. Sasuke remembered that day. He'd had to replace his entire bed because even the wood smelled like dead fish.

"You do it and Iruka-sensei will kill you," Sasuke pointed out.

"We won't always live with Iruka-sensei," Naruto said deviously. "And if I have anything to say about it, we'll have a new place by the end of the week."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "Isn't that what you said when we first moved in with Iruka-sensei? Curious." Sasuke continued walking toward Ichiraku. He turned to walk backward, grinning at Naruto. "Did you want that Ramen date or not?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Naruto grinned suddenly. "Of course, love, of course!" he said, trotting to catch up. "You know, Sakura's going to regret spreading rumors about us. What with that kiss back when we were eleven, people might actually believe it."

Both boys paled suddenly. "I'd forgotten about that," Sasuke said in a somewhat hesitant voice.

Naruto gulped. "I'd forgotten too until just now…" They glanced at each other before simultaneously coming to the same conclusion. They had to shut Sakura up… by _any_ means necessary. If they had to sell their souls to the devil, they would. They ran as fast as they could toward the city. "You take the Hyuga's house and spread your search from there." Naruto yelled. "Check Ino's, Kiba's, and Chouji's place since they're all close to the Hyuga's. Her house is near Ino's so check there too. I'll check at Shino's, Ten-Ten's, Lee's, Shikamaru's, and the academy district."

Sasuke nodded. "Kakashi said to meet him at one in Training Ground 13, so she'll probably show there at one." Naruto nodded and the two of them split up to—hopefully—cover more ground and find the woman who was determined to destroy them.

They wouldn't be having lunch after all…

Sasuke didn't find Sakura anywhere. At one o'clock, he started heading toward Training Ground 13. He met up with a flustered Naruto on the way. They were both out of breath as they approached the gate to Training Ground 13…where Sakura was looking quite pleased with herself standing next to Itachi-disguised-as-Kakashi. That visible black eye looked very suspiciously humored.

"Well, well," Itachi chuckled. "I see you two _finally_ decided to show up. Care to explain why you were late? And so out of breath, too… Not to mention the two of you look quite heated." Sasuke and Naruto both glared death-promises at their teammate. "Well, no matter. This training session will cool you off very quickly."

"It's not what you think," Naruto said hastily as Sakura continued smirking. "Really it's not!"

"Not what I think?" Itachi inquired thoughtfully. "Certainly _looks_ like it's what I've been informed you two have been doing."

"We're not gay!" Sasuke growled at his brother.

The lone visible black eye went marginally wider. "Not gay…" he said thoughtfully.

"We're not!" Naruto added for good measure.

Itachi coughed slightly in obvious discomfort. "I didn't say you were… It appears as though you weren't really running laps around Konoha as you told Sakura you would be doing and thus why you apparently ditched her when she asked you to have lunch with her…" Sasuke and Naruto's jaws dropped. Sakura was looking so _smug_. They couldn't remember how to speak to defend themselves. "Well…" Itachi scratched the back of head. "Well, this is… rather disquieting news…"

Sasuke ground his teeth, trying to think of something to say to defend his manliness in front of his brother. No words came to mind, however. Itachi's next words caused both boys to cringe and their faces to burst into flames in embarrassment.

"Well, er, since you two um… Okay," Itachi stood up perfectly straight, like a man preparing to march into battle headlong. "You see, boys… when a man loves… er, well in your case… another man… There are things that must be done… Certain protections must be taken." Sakura was nearly rolling on the ground with her barely suppressed giggles behind Itachi.

Again Itachi coughed uncomfortably, but seemed to feel it was his duty to finish what he'd started. Naruto was making a rather remarkable impression of a fish out of water. "I'm sure there's nothing wrong with your… sexual preference… It's not something I'm into… but before you… try any experimenting… you should go to the library and read up on… gay relationships." Itachi seemed to have a sudden burst of inspiration. "I know! Tomorrow we will all spend a day researching this subject at the library, as a team, rather than coming here."

"WE ARE NOT GAY!" Naruto and Sasuke yelled together.

"It's okay to come out of the closet," Itachi said, patting them both on the shoulders in what was supposed to be a consoling manner but only felt like the Pat of Doom. "For today, we'll pick up where we left off with walking on the maelstrom. We won't talk about this again until tomorrow."

Itachi took a key card from his pocket and swiped it in the pad. The heavy gate opened up and Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Hit me," he said seriously. "With a really hard rock. Tie me to a boulder and drop me into a deep river right afterward."

Sakura's eyes contorted with amusement at her form of cruel and unusual punishment. She followed Itachi into the training grounds. Naruto grumbled, "I wish I could tell Sakura who Kakashi _really_ is…"

The two boys followed at a slower pace, neither really enthused to join the evil girl. Sasuke looked at Naruto with surprise. "You mean you know?"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "He's a cruel, sadistic bastard who lives to torture little children!" Oh…so Naruto didn't know. "I swear, I'm going to booby-trap everything Sakura and Kakashi own." He glanced side-long at his best friend. "Care to join my vengeance?"

Sasuke needed only one look at that sly pink-haired girl's smirk before nodding. "What color is it this time?" No one was around Training Ground 13. They were the only ones present.

"Rainbow," Naruto growled. "They'll be walking ROY-G-BIV's. This evil injustice cannot be overlooked!" They made it to the edge of the cliff.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said sweetly, batting her eyelashes like the manipulative girl the boys were coming to know she was, "do you want me to be there tomorrow? I'm not sure how beneficial the research will be for me, but I'll be there if you need me—though it really hurts knowing Sasuke chose Naruto over me…"

Itachi…was…being…manipulated…by…Sakura… And he appeared to be falling right into her evil little woman-claws. Itachi dug his finger under the tilted forehead protector to scratch his eye in a moment of thought. Then, he placed both palms on Sakura's shoulders and nodded. "You should be there for moral support, but you're right. You're straight so learning about how to be gay won't benefit you or me. Together, you and I will research medical techniques you might benefit from."

Sakura was so evilly smug, Sasuke couldn't believe it. His big, bad, child-prodigy brother who could use the Sharingan to manipulate people's minds had been manipulated by a fifteen year old girl who had no special manipulative techniques in her arsenal other than long, curled eyelashes and a feminine body!

"Now, as I said, we will not discuss this further until tomorrow. And if you don't show up, Sasuke and Naruto, I'll hunt you down, hog-tie you, and drag you to the library." The smiling upturn to his eye did nothing to lessen the fear that came with the threat.

Sasuke turned his mind to the whirling maelstrom in the pit. He looked at Itachi. "What are we doing?" he asked to change the subject.

"Walking on the maelstrom," Itachi explained. "It takes considerable amount of chakra control to keep yourself afloat on moving liquid." He pulled a piece of black cloth from his pocket and walked over to Sasuke. "You have two lessons to learn here; one, how to walk on the maelstrom. Two, not to rely heavily on the Sharingan when learning techniques. The Sharingan can replicate techniques but only to a certain level. Unless you understand the concept beneath the technique, the power level of your replicated technique will always be weaker than someone who has learned the technique the hard way."

Itachi walked around behind Sasuke and he tensed for a moment, expecting an attack that didn't come. Habits were hard to break… All that came was a black piece of cloth tied tightly on his head, unhindered by hair since his was still very short. "And the cloth is for?" Sasuke asked.

"You've trained your Sharingan to activate itself, correct?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, but not for technique replication. I didn't have that much opportunity to train it for that." He didn't ever really see that many people other than Orochimaru and Kabuto, and even when Kabuto was training him, he never demonstrated a technique so training the Sharingan was pretty much impossible.

"Well, don't train it to do that or I'll schedule you for the next eye transplant and give you ordinary eyes." Sasuke felt a shudder go through him at the thought of losing his Sharingan eyes. They were practically his savior. Itachi continued and Sasuke felt something cold and metal pressed in his hand. "That's a whistle, Sasuke. If you feel yourself falling, blow the whistle as hard as you can and I will pull you out of the water. It is recommended you remove your nin-kits, jacket, and shoes." Sasuke removed his shoes. His nin-kits were back at Iruka's since he hadn't been wearing them before he was thrown in jail, and he didn't wear a jacket.

"Keep the whistle in your mouth. Since you have the bandana covering your eyes, I don't think I need to warn you, but if the bandana should fall off, keep your eyes _closed_. If you do this wrong, the water will pull you under. We can't tie you to a lifeline here because if you go under the force of the water will snap you in half. If you slip, don't struggle against the flow of the water. Move with it and you should be able to keep your head above the water until I can pull you out."

"Can I trust you to pull me out?" Sasuke asked Itachi. He heard echoes of confusion emitting from Sakura and Naruto, but ignored the two.

Itachi didn't answer, unsurprisingly. "You'll go in one at a time until you get the hang of it. You will first hang on the ledge, Sasuke, and gather enough chakra beneath your feet to stay on top of the water. Then, drop onto the water. It's tough to do, and you probably won't get it your first time. Keep in mind that on still water, you won't move, but this is not still water so you have to constantly adjust your chakra to the surface beneath you and keep your feet braced so you stay standing. Still with me?"

Sasuke nodded hesitantly. "How do I know when I can get out again?"

"I've measured the time and distance with a person of your weight and stature," Itachi explained. "It will take you approximately three hundred thirty seconds to go the loop. That's five and a half minutes. As you get closer to the center, obviously the loop goes faster, so after three hundred seconds you want to reach out and grab the wall with your chakra, lifting your feet simultaneously, and climb out of the pit."

"It would be easier if I could take this bandana off," Sasuke muttered.

Itachi pointed out, "You will never improve if you do not challenge yourself. If you spent all that time training with Kabuto taking the 'easy' way, then I was mistaken to think you might have gained a minute amount of strength."

His words made sense, even if they hurt at the same time. Kabuto never demonstrated a technique to him—not once. He had something similar to Sasuke, except his words were more along the lines of 'using the Sharingan was cheating'. But if Itachi thought Sasuke was as weak as he'd been in their last battle, Sasuke would show him a thing or two. He would prove he could do this, because this was similar to Kabuto's training methods.

The only difference was that Itachi had removed his eyes from the equation all together. "Alright," Sasuke said monotonously. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and would have cringed if he hadn't just spent a week in a tiny cell with his brother and come out mostly unscathed (his brother felt the urge to whack him upside the head whenever Sasuke said something Itachi didn't like). He was guided to the edge.

"Now put the whistle between your lips and sit down. You will turn yourself and lower yourself down onto the top of the water. You are five feet eight inches tall. The water is seven and a half feet down." Itachi kept speaking instructions even as Sasuke did as he was told. Sasuke didn't really want to do the training because he couldn't be sure his brother would pull him out.

'He better pull me out, or I'll come back and haunt him as a ghost,' he thought childishly before concentrating his chakra in his feet and dropping himself. He counted to three and dropped. He managed to land unsteadily on the water but the water surface beneath him changed rapidly and he couldn't adjust the control on his chakra fast enough. He sunk and lost the whistle.

The water tugged at the bandana but the cloth didn't come off his eyes. Hands wrapped around him and pulled him up before he could be dragged down to the bottom in the current. Moments later, he was on the ground again coughing up enough water that it felt as though he were also ridding himself of precious internal organs.

He yanked the bandana off, feeling suddenly claustrophobic with it on. 'And I thought for a moment that Itachi was partly sane…' he groused mentally. 'This isn't training… this is slow execution…'

* * *

**Thanks to: **Sleepy One (I have said in every disclaimer for this story that this is AU Inuyasha, and I would have hoped you would have realized that by the end of the first chapter even if you didn't read the disclaimer. If I were to make Naruto and company know what was happening to Kagome and the other girls in chapter 13, it would be like making Naruto an angel-demon-devil-prince-priest-ninja-super-duper-telepathic-mind-reader-Mary-Sue. He didn't know what was going on, so thus I could get away with some joking in chapter 13, and as far as copping out on the action, I left it to your imagination to guess what Sesshoumaru would do with a bunch of men who harmed his property--as Kagome is considered his. Re-read chapter 3 to figure out how Kakashi and Kagome know each other. Or, re-read chapter 13. It is explained in both. I put Note#2 in the first chapter for you, and welcome to the story. Please leave a signed review so I can easily reply with that lovely cheater's-button next time), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (no changes necessary! Boy did I have you fooled! haha!), Shutoko Kosoukou Dreamer (see? They really **are** gay!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (The bells come later), Ichihime (they are cute, and I will have to write a GaaraKagome story someday), DarkRavie (Glad you like it), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 36 after I posted chapter 37. 

ANSWER: MUAHAHA! Told you they're gay!

_I don't know the words to the song, bum bum bum, but it's good, and called Pageant. The band is Cirque Du Soleil. Check it out! Please review!_


	38. Ramen Party

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

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Chapter 38: Ramen Party

Since breakfast had come early for Gaara (the hospital staff insisted he eat something before going to work) and Temari and Kankuro hadn't eaten at all, lunch came with a big surprise attached. Kagome seemed pleased to be able to come to Kazekage tower. She was led by a rather unsettled looking shinobi who Gaara had assigned to keep an eye on Kagome and take her wherever she wanted to go.

It seemed he forgot to mention he didn't really need Kagome to come to Kazekage tower… Gaara _would_ have sent an apologetic look at the other people in the room—those other people included the five members on the Elder Council and several people on the Clan Council—except he didn't feel he had anything to apologize for. The members of the Clan Council seemed amused by Kagome's sudden appearance, and the Elder Council seemed disquieted and wary.

"Hello!" Kagome chirped, standing by the door. "I'm here to steal your Kazekage for lunch!" There was a murmur of disapproval from the Elder Council. Gaara wanted to avoid any possible violence that might ensue from her being turned away so he stood up. He'd told Temari and Kankuro earlier that he'd patched things up with Kagome. He did not want them getting violent with him because he miraculously managed to mess up things with Kagome with his incredibly competent people skills.

"I will join you outside momentarily, Kagome," Gaara told her. Kagome beamed at him before walking out and the shinobi assigned to her closed the door behind them. Temari smiled at Gaara, obviously pleased he had decided to go with Kagome instead of work through lunch.

"Kazekage-sama," said one of the Elder Council in a voice that suggested increased patience was being used, "we really do need to work on these agreements. It is still very early in the day."

Gaara gave the old man his trademark 'I'm looking at you and debating how you will die' look. "You forget yourself, Evra. I have been awake for thirteen hours, while you have been awake six. In the natural order of things, it is my dinner time, is it not?"

He received silence as his response. Kankuro said, "Gaara, take the robes off. You don't need to go to lunch as Kazekage."

Gaara glared at each and every person in the room save for his old sensei Baki and his brother and sister. "You may all leave. Return here at three o'clock and we will resume work on the Zodiac agreements and the arrangements for the upcoming Chunin exams."

The Elder and Clan council members filed out of the room. Very soon it was only Baki and Gaara's siblings who remained with him. With Temari's help, Gaara was able to peel himself out of the robes of the Kage without wrinkling it. Temari hung it up for him.

Baki asked, "Gaara, I hope you aren't trailing her along to placate her." Gaara knew what Baki was talking about.

"The engagement has been called off already, Baki." Gaara said. "Kagome and I have agreed that it is for the best that we do not marry. Until such a time comes that she feels it is safe for her to return home, she will stay in Sunagakure."

"And why is it not safe for her at home?" Baki asked.

"As far as I can tell, the Sound has taken an interest in her. As for Kabuto Yakushi's presence with her, I will be asking her about that at lunch." Gaara strapped on his gourd of sand by force of habit, but Kankuro took it off immediately.

"You're going to lunch with her. What do you need that for?" Kankuro demanded. "Lunch is lunch, and if you happen to need sand, you can use the stuff on the ground instead of unnerving the locals."

Temari fussed with Gaara's hair. Why? Gaara had no idea. When she pulled out a brush from her nin-kit (were brushes necessary items in a nin-kit?), he drew the line. "Stuff it, Temari," he growled, brushing her off and storming out.

He heard her mutter, "Someone's in a touchy mood today." She looked at him sharply as she put the brush back in her nin-kit. "There's nothing wrong with brushing your hair once in a while, and it's a good idea to brush it when you go on a date."

Baki frowned. "Gaara," he started.

Gaara glared at his sister, his hand on the doorknob. "It isn't a date," he told her, speaking so that Baki could also hear. Kankuro set the heavy gourd of sand in the corner of the room. Gaara left it at that and took off out the door.

Kagome was waiting for him outside the tower. The sandy breeze whipped at her clean clothes. She was borrowing Temari's clothes since the rags she'd come in were hardly worth scrap and looked stranger than strange in a black tank top made of imported silk, and a skimpy black leather skirt. Her breasts were obviously bound by bandages just as all kunoichi—and some unfortunately chesty shinobi—had to do. Kagome wore a pair of flip-flops Temari usually wore when she was off-duty at home. She'd showered and braided her hair in pigtails and looked much nicer than when he saw her that morning.

"I like the sky here in Suna," Kagome told him in greeting as he walked up to her. She was staring up at it and bore a peaceful expression on her face. She spread her arms wide and spun in a half circle, turning her eyes on him as she did so. "It's so beautiful. And for a city in the middle of the desert, I thought it would be a lot warmer than it is. There's more green life here than I'd expected, too."

"Sunagakure was built on the largest oasis in the desert," he told her. She looked good in silk and leather, he thought. Of course, that was just his opinion. He was used to women who wore silk and leather. Since most types of fabrics were imported to Suna, leather and silk were the things worn by those with money.

"Well, I'm ready for lunch." Kagome told him. She swooped down to pick up the small basket at her feet. She'd made him lunch and probably wanted to picnic. He didn't really mind. As she grabbed the basket, he waved away the shinobi who wanted to follow to 'protect their Kazekage'. He doubted there would be trouble, and if there happened to be a scrape or two, he would take care of it himself.

"Where did you want to go?" he asked her.

She smiled. "I made lunch, so you pick where we eat it."

He thought for a moment. Where would she want to go? What interesting thing might she enjoy seeing? It came to him like a slap to the face. "The watering hole," he told her. It was the best sight in all of Suna. There were times as a child that he would go there just to sit and watch the water. He offered her a brief smile before taking the basket from her hands. "Come," he told her.

xXx

Kagome gasped at the sight of the watering hole. In all her life, water had never looked so beautiful. At the back of the city there weren't houses or people, but rather was a crystal clear lake. They knew they were getting closer to the back of the city as the tall crescent shaped mountain that surrounded Sunagakure got closer, and they started seeing more plant-life in the sand. Soon they were walking on top of more grass than sand, and when the lake came into view, they were walking on healthy green grass.

"Wow," Kagome couldn't help but cover her mouth in a sad attempt at hiding her dropped jaw amazement. There were palm trees shading the banks of the lake. Some people sat on the banks, and others walked around with friends or loved ones. A few children sat on the grass staring up at the clouds. "Oh, wow," Kagome breathed.

It was so amazing. Who would have known that in the middle of a hot desert, such a place could be found? She would have thought that the water would've evaporated, or at least made the city hot and muggy. It didn't. How?

They moved toward the gorgeous crystal lake and sat down on the grass. "How?" she asked, hoping he understood the thousands of questions she had. He sent her his trademark 'I know what you don't' smile (which Kankuro once said looked exactly like the 'I'm about to kill you and laugh about it' smile) before reaching in the basket. He looked at the contents of the two meals. "They're the same thing," she explained, knowing he was checking for meat.

"Good," he said and took one. "The mountain," he waved to the crescent shaped land mass around the whole city, "and the watering hole work together to keep the temperature down. You also came just before the wet season when Sunagakure gets a great deal of rain, so it's usually cooler at this time." He fished out his silverware and set to work on the food she'd made him. It was a chilled vegetarian noodle salad.

"Oh," Kagome still couldn't help but be amazed. "It's beautiful," she told him.

He grinned. "It has a rival," he told her. "The lake goes into the mountain through an underground cavern. Not many know about it. I've only seen pictures of it myself, but apparently inside that mountain is an air pocket. Somewhere on the mountain is a hole that at some point at night the moon shines through the hole and lights up the inside of the mountain as the moon reflects off the lake and the diamonds inside the mountain."

"But if there's diamonds, why don't people mine them?" Kagome asked. "Aren't they really popular? And, I don't know, expensive?"

"Because without the mountain, Sunagakure would cease to exist. The watering hole would dry up and we would be forced to leave. We don't dare destroy the mountain for profitable gain. Some have tried, but its Sunagakure law that those seen defiling the mountain are put to the gallows. It's that important."

She fell silent, thinking about that inner-mountain cavern. She could feel a Summon within Sunagakure since earlier that morning. She had first noticed it when she and Kabuto met Temari and Kankuro on the streets. Now that she was close to the lake, the presence of a Summon seemed to grow stronger. Inevitably the thought of a nearby Summon Creature brought her own predicament to mind.

She looked at Gaara. He had finished his lunch and she hadn't even started hers yet. She pushed hers toward him, a silent offering. He didn't take it, but he held a thank you in his eyes. He was watching her; she knew what he wanted.

"I fished a guy probably the same age as us out of the Abyss," she started to explain. She kept her voice down so she wouldn't attract attention to the conversation. It wasn't one she wanted spread about. "I took him to Konohagakure and ended up staying there for a while, and then a couple of shinobi escorted me home as far as Abby Mountains. I walked the rest of the way on my own. I was at home for a week before I felt like something was wrong.

"I thought the feeling was related to how I was at home all alone so I ignored it. Sango was going to go from Konohagakure to come here with a traveling monk who we'd met four months ago or somewhere around there. Itachi, Deidara, Kisame, and Sasori were off trying to find Kikyou by my request. So it was just me. But it wasn't. A week and a day since I'd arrived home, I was kidnapped in the middle of the night. A man who looked more like a snake had taken me inside Abby Mountain's deep tunnels.

"At first I was just locked there. They'd taken all my Koumaberu, and my links, and the Shikon no Tama. Time passed, and people came to feed me sometimes. Every so often the snake man would come and tell me I was to be his next host, but I don't really know what he meant by that. Then the snake man came with Kabuto. I had thought he'd been turned into one of Kikyou's many Level Five Summons, or maybe one of the dozens of Level Six Summons, but he was a Level Four Summon so at least he retains his mind still…

"Anyway, the snake man told Kabuto to 'prepare me' and 'not to fail him again'. Kabuto only had ten days to do whatever he was supposed to do, but he went against the snake man. I tried to get Kabuto to help me to get the Shikon, my links, and my Koumaberu back, but he knocked me out and the next thing I knew we were in a village somewhere. The best place we could come up with to come to was here."

"Why is Kabuto Yakushii still with you now?" Gaara asked.

Kagome shrugged. "He's one of the Yobidasu. He's… he's like Itachi and the others now. He's not human anymore. He confirmed the truth of this on the way here."

"How did he confirm this?"

"How do you think?" Kagome questioned Gaara in return, and a nearly invisible shudder passed through him. She nodded. "Yes, like that."

Gaara had seen a lot of things in his life, but the method used to prove a Level Four summon was still among the most disgusting things he'd ever seen. "Where is he now?"

"He's outside the city, waiting for the others to show up. I already called Kisame and told him and the others to come. They said they were near here, so should be here by nightfall." She paused and looked at Gaara speculatively. "Speaking of the others… do you by any chance know where Itachi might've gone? I know you and he got along well enough, but he left the others and said he had a debt to repay. It just doesn't seem like him to go off on his own now he's leader of Akatsuki."

"I don't know where he might've gone," Gaara told her. He finally gave in and snatched up the other lunch. Boys will be boys, she thought. And a lunch is edible. "You said the Shikon no Tama was taken?" She nodded. "We'll have to come up with a resolution to that obvious problem."

"And my links and Koumaberu?" she asked hopefully.

He nodded, stabbing at the salad. "How long do you think you might have before your Level Three Summon finds out?"

"That's one of the many problems. He could decide to pop in now, or several months from now. Sesshoumaru's not one to give me a scheduled 'date of appearance'. He said it keeps me on my toes. And Inuyasha is still learning to cut the void, so at least he shouldn't be coming unless I call him."

"I'll start looking into a plan we can safely execute to get those items back." He put the empty dishes in the basket and reached into his pocket, bringing out his wallet. He pulled out money and handed it to her. "Until then, go shopping for clothes or whatever you might need." She took the money and he looked at his watch. "It's almost three now. I have to get back to work. I'll come to my house for dinner at nine. Remember, vegetarian."

He stood up and brushed himself off before holding a hand down to her. She took it and let him pull her up. "I made you lunch," she pointed out.

"And you'll make me dinner." He smirked. "Don't you like cooking anymore?" She knew she looked offended, because she was. She barely needed to think to cook. It was just a shame she couldn't be like that for other parts of her life.

xXx

Naruto and Sasuke slumped side by side in Ichiraku soaked to their very souls. The long afternoon was finally over when the sun went down. Naruto was grateful he didn't have to be blindfolded on the maelstrom like Sasuke did. It was hard enough when he _could_ see—not that he got to see very much before he was engulfed by millions of gallons of water. Mostly he forgot to close his eyes under water and he kept seeing that skeletal creature.

He wondered what it was (other than the most disgusting looking thing he'd ever seen). "I'm so hungry," Naruto moaned, hoping to take his mind off the thing. Looking at the Ichiraku menu definitely helped. "Hey, pops!" he called to the cook, "Gimme a pork ramen, and a beef ramen, and a chicken ramen, and," he was interrupted by his best friend.

"Why don't you just say 'one of everything'?" Sasuke asked. "And I'm not paying if you're ordering all that."

"All what?" Naruto asked innocently. "I vaguely recall you walking out on the bill twelve times in one year, leaving me to cover the rest when you had a bajillion dollars more than me. It's payback time." He looked back at the confused elderly cook, "And a beef, and a fish, and a pork, and a beef!" he called. "And give him the bill, 'cause he owes me."

Sasuke set his head down on the counter. "I'm going to be washing dishes." He muttered.

"You got it, Naruto," the cook called. He set to work on making their ramen—and Sasuke thought it was 'their' ramen, since he had full intentions of just stealing one of Naruto's many bowls—and his young daughter came over to the boys.

"What can I get you boys to drink?" she asked sweetly. "Soda or water today?"

"How about some hard liquor?" Sasuke inquired half-heartedly. She sent him a scathing look that he didn't notice due to his face-plant in the counter. However, he could _feel_ that glare. Strange, that. He couldn't feel pain, but a woman's deadly glare… "Right, just a cola then." He said.

"And you, Naruto?" she asked, back to being happy.

"I'm up for a cup of warm milk." Naruto told her.

"I thought you grew out of the 'warm milk' phase," Sasuke asked, sitting up straight to look at his blonde best friend.

"I'm freezing, and warm milk sounds good," he said. "You should try it some time."

"Gross," Sasuke shuddered. "I always think 'spoiled milk' when you say warm. Chunky. Out-of-date." Again, he shuddered. "You don't think Iruka-sensei is going to want to train tonight, do you?" Sasuke questioned. "I mean, he's not It…Kakashi-sensei."

"It?" Naruto asked. Sasuke swore mentally. He had blundered. At least Naruto didn't figure out what would've come after 'it'. "It. I like it. Kakashi-sensei's not a man. He's an 'it'. Good thinking, Sasuke."

Their food came. As Sasuke had thought he would do, he simply grabbed one of Naruto's many bowls of ramen and the boy didn't even notice. Naruto felt that afternoon was incredibly close to murder.

"Once I've eaten, I'm going to head straight to the public bath houses…after I stop at the storage shed for more clothes. I like that idea."

"Technically you wouldn't be going straight to the public bath houses after you eat then," Sasuke pointed out. Naruto made a face at him. "No, logically you would be making a detour to district S on your way to district K." They fell silent as they ate.

Naruto finished four bowls of ramen and started on his fifth before Sasuke got done with his first. How did the boy do it? And where did he put it all? "Yeah, well, I doubt Iruka-sensei's gonna be like the 'it' anyway, but maybe you should check with him."

"Check with who about what?" Naruto looked at the intruder into their conversation. Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji had come into Ichiraku and sat down in a line down from Naruto. Shikamaru sat next to Naruto, Kiba beside him, and Chouji sat last. Shikamaru was the one who had spoken.

"Oh, it's Iruka-sensei," Naruto explained. "Sasuke practically died today, so he thought maybe Iruka-sensei won't want to train."

"Practically died?" Shikamaru asked, eyebrows raised.

Kiba snorted into one of the bowls he'd stolen from Naruto without anyone really noticing. "It'd be too nice if he _did_," he muttered. Sasuke decided to ignore the comment. He had figured some of them would be like that. He tried to tell himself he didn't care, but it still bothering him for some reason.

"Yeah. Kakashi-sensei's been teaching us to walk on moving water." Naruto said. He also ignored Kiba's comment, because sometimes he felt the same way. Most of the time, he felt awful for feeling that way though. "It's harder than it sounds, and Kakashi-sensei gave Sasuke all these extra difficulties, like being blindfolded while he does it. Sasuke ended up being dragged under and Kakashi-sensei had to dive in after him to pull him out."

"That sounds hard," Chouji muttered, ordering several bowls of ramen.

"So what've you guys been up to while we were locked up?" Naruto asked cheerfully.

"Ramen!" Lee's voice could be heard from all the way up the street.

"Was that the brow freak?" Sasuke questioned.

"You're no beauty queen yourself, scar-boy," Kiba snapped. "Why don't you go run away again instead of making fun of Lee?"

"It is my ultimate rival who is now out of jail, Uzumaki, Naruto!" Lee said, bursting into the ramen shop and halting any retaliation that may have followed Kiba's outburst. Lee's eyes fell on Sasuke and he narrowed his tennis ball orbs. "And it is my rival for the love of Sakura-chan! I will not lose to you, Uchiha, Sasuke!"

"Lee-kun, it's time for those 'inside voices' remember?" Ten-Ten asked as she too joined the quickly-crowding shop. Neiji was with her. There were no more seats at the bar, so the chef opened up the party room in the back of the shop. Relocation was necessary to accommodate everyone. Naruto took two of his three remaining bowls and headed toward the party room with everyone else. Sasuke took the third.

Sasuke wouldn't have stayed—in fact, he would have preferred to go since he felt uncomfortable in crowds—but he had agreed to pay for Naruto's meal. "How many more people are coming?" Sasuke asked the Hyuga as they fell into step.

Neiji told him, "Ino, Hinata, and Sakura will be coming."

"I see," Sasuke could see he would be very uncomfortable for the evening. Undoubtedly, Sakura had told Ino and Hinata of the earlier event, and of what would occur tomorrow; their 'training' session, as it was being called.

"The expenses for this impromptu gathering will be covered by myself, Shikamaru, and Shino. You need not stay." Neiji told him.

"Good." Sasuke said. He shoved the bowl of ramen in Neiji's hands, earning a look of surprise from the gray and white clothed boy. Had the boy expected Sasuke to stay after being told he could go?

He slipped out of the party room before Naruto could even register he'd been there and headed toward the cook's daughter. He handed her some money—more than enough to pay for what had already been ordered. "Get Naruto another glass of warm milk, will you?" he asked her, "You can keep the rest."

He took off before thanks could be uttered and headed toward the academy district. He could check with Iruka, and if Iruka didn't want to train, he could try to sleep early. As he walked, he wrung more water out of his clothes. He and Naruto had gone straight from training ground 13 to Ichiraku. Now, it was night time and dark out. The closer he got to the academy district, the more quiet things got and the fewer people were out.

Had he not left early, he might not have had to deal with someone walking up behind him and boarding him on the head. Of course, he did leave early… and so when someone came up behind him and said his name, and he recognized their voice and turned to greet one of the few people he had ever come to respect, he ended up taking a board to the head.

He slumped to the ground and lay for a moment staring up at the man as they knelt in front of him and checked his pulse. His vision became doubles. "You…why?" he asked. He kicked himself for trusting the man.

"Hokage's orders," the man said before everything went dark. When he woke up, he was definitely going to kill the Hokage. In fact, he had a new 'kill' list now starting with the Hokage and…his betrayer.

xXx

"Naruto, here you go," Naruto glanced at the glass of warm milk and then to the girl who had brought it.

He smiled. "Thanks!" he said. He turned, looking around the room. Sasuke wasn't in the room, but he didn't pay much attention to that. The guy probably had to go to the bathroom, and what better time to go than in the middle of a relocation? He started on another bowl of ramen. The chef just kept bringing out the bowls.

Everyone seated themselves around the table as soon as Shikamaru and Kiba finished moving them around. Soon, the long rectangle tables were arranged into a square and everyone could sit and see pretty much everyone else without straining too hard. He sat next to Shikamaru, and Lee sat on his other side.

More people joined the gathering within moments. Sakura (soon, Sakura would be very colorful…) came, Ino came, Hinata came and started hyperventilating the moment she saw Naruto (did he do something wrong?), and even buggy Shino came. Noise filled the party room.

"So, really, what's happened all week?" Naruto asked.

"Not too much," Shikamaru said. "We all went to a party in the academy district. Ino invited us, and of course, it was busted up at six AM. I got caught there, and I'm still catching heat from my ma about it," Shikamaru clucked his tongue. "I wouldn't be here if ma didn't like you."

"That sucks," Naruto said. He grinned and said the line that always got Shikamaru to stop complaining about his 'troublesome mother'. "_I_ don't have to take heat from my mom."

"Your ma's probably rolling in her grave thinking of you and all you do," Shikamaru retorted. It was the customary retort, and had been since even before Naruto knew his parents names. Somehow it now held meaning—not that he'd even think of stopping his pranks, of course.

"So what happened at the party?" Naruto asked. He looked at Lee. "Did you go?"

"I was sleeping safe in my bed." Lee said seriously. "As well you should get in trouble for such indiscretions! I should think going out 'partying' is worth a talking-about! And the power outage was probably the fault of that party! Such indecency and uncouth behavior…" he trailed off, staring at Sakura with obvious love in his black eyes. "Sakura-chan would frown at me if I should ever go to a party!" Lee said. "My love is pure! I would never do such things, Sakura-chan!" he shouted at the girl.

Sakura blinked at Lee, quite obviously having no clue what the hell he was talking about. "I know, Lee-kun!" she said to placate him, before turning back to her conversation with Ten-Ten and Hinata.

"Sit down, Lee," Neiji insisted from his place next to Lee. Lee sat down.

"Okay…" Naruto said hesitantly, wondering if he should even continue due to Lee's obvious desire to outbreak into loud voices. Maybe they should move the party to be under the bridge? But then they wouldn't have constant ramen… Hmm, choices, choices… "So what about this power outage? I didn't hear anything about that." Naruto decided to just continue the conversation where they were.

"The power went out," Neiji said, "somewhere around 5:30 AM last Sunday."

Shikamaru continued, "It was a city wide thing. The only places that had power were the hospitals and the prison, though no one really knows why. Even back-up power generators weren't working."

Neiji added, "They thought that Miss Shen and her party was the cause of the outage, so anyone who had been at the party ended up going in to interrogation."

"Miss Shen?" Naruto asked.

"A hark!" Lee said, slapping his fist into his palm. "Have you seen what that woman wears? She leaves no imagination to a man."

"And you do?" Kiba asked Lee, pointing at the green stretch suit the boy wore. "Sometimes when I look at you, I want to vomit."

"Only sometimes?" Neiji inquired thoughtfully at Lee's hurt expression. "So, basically, part of the time you _like_ what he wears?"

"This is true!" Lee could definitely get the award for 'bouncing back from hurt'.

"That's not true!" Kiba tried, but he was ignored.

"And during the power outage, someone robbed the Konohagakure Sunday Edition Newspaper." Shikamaru said.

"Robbed the paper?!" Naruto scoffed. "I bet I could top that!"

"I don't think it was a prank," Shikamaru pointed out. "A job like that could only be done by professionals."

"What would anyone want with a bunch of newspapers?" Naruto thought aloud.

"Maybe they have a wood-burning stove…" Kiba responded.

"It was not just a power outage, or the thieving of the papers," Lee said. "Due to the power outage, there was a great loss of computerized information."

Kiba, Neiji, and Shikamaru looked surprised at that new bit of information. Apparently they hadn't known that, so at least Naruto didn't feel left out this time. "Loss of… Lee, where did you find this out?" Neiji asked.

"I heard the fellows at the newspaper talking about it. Remember, Gai-sensei lives across the street from the newspaper?" Lee pointed out. "Apparently they received a virus that ate all their computer files, and they stopped keeping hard copies of information two years ago because they had a back-up system that was 'fail-safe'. But the back-up system did not have a back-up system and the virus got into their mainframe and ate away at their files until nothing remained."

"Wow," Naruto whistled. "Someone had a grudge. I don't think I could top that."

"Again," Shikamaru said, "I doubt it was a prank."

"Could'a been!" Naruto pointed out. "I mean, what better way to get back at someone than to destroy their life's work?"

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Neiji said.

"You got it," Naruto said, slurping on another bowl of ramen. "So, when did the power get fixed?" He knew it had already been fixed. It was obvious it had been since the power was now on.

"That's just it," Kiba said, "it _wasn't_ fixed. It just…came on again, on Tuesday, somewhere after lunch. The power companies are trying to figure out what caused it, but there's no leads anywhere."

Neiji glanced at Lee, "Did you hear anything else about the virus?" He asked.

Lee tapped his chin in thought. "Well, Verny, that's the editor of the newspaper, mentioned he knew a man named Kras who also had their computer receive the virus. But then there's always the chance that the virus will have spread or whatever computer viruses do."

Shikamaru whistled slightly. "Kras, huh? I've met him."

"Met who?" Ino asked from across the table.

"Lictor Kras." Shikamaru said. "He conducted my interrogation after the party. Kept asking if I had any involvement in what happened at the newspaper; he's on the Elder Council."

"Oh, him?" Ten-Ten snorted. "He asked me the same thing. Can you believe it? I mean, I spend _all_ night getting tips from Ino on how to cook Lemon Alfredo, and I _finally_ kissed Neiji, and they ask me if I robbed the newspaper!"

"We kissed?" Neiji asked. "When?"

Ten-Ten looked crushed. "At 4:32!"

"Must not have been very memorable," Kiba said, further crushing Ten-Ten.

"Wait," Ino said, "I don't remember talking all night about Lemon Alfredo. I don't even know how to cook it. That's Sakura's specialty."

"S-so w-what did you d-do?" Hinata asked, fidgeting with her sleeve.

"I hung out with Shika," Ino said. "At least until he started yelling at me about how 'not all men like thin girls'."

"I…didn't yell at you yesterday." Shikamaru said. "I sat on a couch with Chouji and did nothing for the whole party—then got yelled at by my ma for going."

"Waaaait a minute," Naruto said. "So all of you can't get your stories straight?"

"I was sleeping, as all good shinobi do when not working!" Lee said exuberantly.

"I, too, s-spent the n-night s-sleeping. I f-fainted in the middle of s-supper, so Neiji-kun recommended I-I should g-go to the hospital in c-case something was wr-wrong." Hinata said.

"Were you questioned, Lee?" Naruto asked him.

Lee shook his head. "No."

"Well, that's a given," Kiba pointed out. "Lee's too honorable to do something like this."

"And he can't keep secrets very well," Sakura added.

"And everyone knows it," Ten-Ten added. Lee blushed.

"So, you guys _did_ do this?" Naruto asked.

"No," they all chorused.

"I mean, other than Lee, and Hinata, and Sakura, and Sasuke, and me, you guys can't get your alibis straight."

"Well, there was alcohol at the party," Chouji pointed out. "And we all told the truth under truth serum, so…"

"Well, drunk people never get their stories straight," Sakura pointed out. "So you all got drunk." Silence met her, before Naruto and Sakura started laughing. "You guys got drunk!" Sakura howled in amusement. "And you could've done _anything_ and you wouldn't know!"

"So, Sakura, Sasuke, and me were in jail, Hinata was in the hospital, and Lee just couldn't possibly do something like that. It falls on you guys!" Naruto said.

"But we didn't," Neiji said. "But there is something that bothers me about this whole thing."

Sakura and Naruto sobered up. "What is it, Neiji-kun?" Sakura asked.

"I keep feeling like I remember a name…or maybe not name, but a word. Two words." Neiji said and Naruto noticed that Lee's knuckles turned white on his chopsticks. "Arzyle Arminiean," Neiji finished.

"Arzyle Arminiean?" Sakura repeated. Neiji nodded.

"That name's been stuck in my head too!" Ten-Ten said. "Where did I hear it?"

"Probably from me or Lee," Naruto said. "I mean, Arzyle-sama is only _the_ biggest guy ever!"

"_Lord_ Arzyle?" Shikamaru asked. "Who is that?" Lee visibly relaxed, confusing Naruto. Why was he tense to begin with?

"Lord Arzyle Arminiean is one of the children of the four goddesses. It's a religious thing."

"You're religious?!" Kiba asked of Naruto. Everyone knew it of Lee, but not Naruto.

"Yeah. Iruka-sensei took me every Sunday as I was growing up."

"So who are these four goddesses?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Aretha is the virtuous goddess," Naruto said, wondering why Sakura was curious. She seemed intent on learning though. It wasn't like he'd purposefully kept his religion to himself. No one ever really asked so he didn't offer up the information. He would've told if he was asked. "Her symbol is the sapphire, and her controlling element is water. Ardela is the enthusiastic goddess. Her symbol is the ruby and her controlling element is fire. Araya is the opinionated goddess. Her symbol is the diamond and her element is the air. Arnina is the enlightened goddess. Her symbol is the opal, and her element is the earth. They are the four goddesses who care for the world."

"Huh," Sakura blinked. "My parents are civilians and religious, but I've never heard of this stuff before."

Lee grumbled irritably, "That's because the Elder Council got our beloved religion banned in Konohagakure. We cannot openly practice our beliefs without being arrested."

"And here we go again," Neiji muttered. "Thank you, Sakura."

"Huh?" she asked.

Lee burst out, "Those stupid, mean old men…they went and… grumble grumble…"

"Uh, Lee?" Kiba said, "You're just standing there saying 'grumble grumble'… Is there a point?"

"It's true though," Naruto said. "I think I was six or seven when it happened. They burned down our church, smashed the thrones of our goddesses, and tore apart Lord Arzyle's cushion!" He added hastily, "And not in that order either!"

"Who did this?" Ino asked.

"The Elder Council. They called us a cult!" Lee spat, surprising everyone with his violent tone. He was already pacing. "And to make matters worse, they lie! They lie about it! They say it never happened. They never did it!"

"Whoa, there, boy," Shikamaru said. "We're not the enemy."

"I'm sure the Elder Council had their reasons." Chouji said. "I mean, there could've been things going on that you guys didn't know about. You were both just kids then."

"No," Lee growled, "there were no reasons other than the Elder Council wants to deny the true goddesses their proper place in the world. We are kind and understanding of all other religions, and welcome them to their beliefs! And they did this to us!"

"Calm down, Lee," Neiji said. "Sit down, and take one thousand deep breaths, to train yourself to be calm again." Lee sat down instantly and started breathing deeply. "So, Naruto," he leaned forward to look at Naruto. "Who is Arzyle then?"

"I already told you. Arzyle Arminiean is one of the children of the four goddesses."

"But where could I have heard his name? I'm not religious," Neiji said.

"Me neither," Ten-Ten said. Several others nodded their agreement.

"No one is religious in the Hyuga clan," Neiji added. "So it isn't like I could have heard it at home."

"I don't know," Naruto said.

"Well, could you tell us—I don't know—a story about Arzyle? Does your religion even have stories?" Sakura asked. "I know my parents' religion has lots of stories, but I stopped paying attention when I started at the academy."

"Of course we have stories," Naruto told them. "Like, the creation of the Arthlezenithites, the creation of man, the destruction of the world… lots of 'em."

Silence and Lee's breathing was what met him. He swore he could have heard crickets chirping if the window was open. He filled the silence with the sound of himself eating ramen, feeling suddenly nervous and judged. "The Arfeli-what?" Chouji asked through a mouth-full.

"ARTHLEZENITHITES." Naruto said. "Ar-th-le-zen-i-thi-tes. They're the children of the four goddesses."

Lee interrupted, "They were not just the children of the four goddesses, but they were gifted with the power of knowledge from birth. The goddesses had not intended for their knowledge to be used as the children were doing; massive wars were being fought with powerful weapons, giant, land consuming cities were being built, and the goddesses cried because it saddened them."

Naruto added, "And then the goddesses' children felt they no longer needed their mothers. The Arthlezenithites took their winged cities to the skies, leaving nothing behind but the aftermath of their many battles. Only one Arthlezenithite scorned his whole race of people, choosing his mothers over all others. That was Arzyle Arminiean."

"So, this guy…" Ino asked slowly. "Do you have any pictures of him?"

"It's been a few thousand years," Lee said loosely. "But doubtless he was a dashing fellow. Like myself, I am certain."

"Uh huh," Kiba trailed off before picking up the conversation again, "so did this Arzyle guy have kids?"

"No, stupid," Sakura told him, "only one of the Arfezites remained behind! It's hard to procreate without a woman."

"Arzyle Arminiean had not the means to procreate through the love of a woman, but through the knowledge of his ancestors he could create children to keep watch on his mothers." Lee said.

"I don't get that," Sakura said. "The guy's gotta be nuts to think his descendants are going to keep watching his ancient mom."

Lee frowned. "It is not so," he told the girl, "as the goddesses can take care of themselves. Though it was Arzyle's wish that his children take care of the goddesses, they bade it not be so. The goddesses' sadness turned to fury and they shook the world, wishing to remove traces of the lost civilization left behind by their children. Mountains became valleys, oceans became deserts, and valleys flooded with water."

"That's kind o-of h-harsh," Hinata stammered.

Naruto nodded. "But imagine how hard it was on the goddesses to be forsaken by the people they gave life to? All they had left was Arzyle. So they bore down on Arzyle, hoping to teach him humility before he too felt himself all-knowing. He was yet a boy. Oh, what was it the goddesses said to him, Lee?" Naruto scratched the back of his head, the words just barely on the tip of his tongue.

Lee repeated the words, "Ardela said, 'Thy job shall be simple, given to thee only one task.' Araya said, 'Little hath survived our fierce wrath, but we leave thee Arazalia.' Arnina said, 'Take heed, youth, for your task is to care for Arazalia and all her belongings.' And Aretha said, 'To this task, you must never fail. Shouldst the time come to use Arazalia or her belongings, pray you use it well. Pray you do not use it out of greed or lust for power. Pray should you find more pieces of your brethren's legacy you will take it inside Arazalia and care for it.'"

"Damn, I can never remember that whole thing," Naruto whistled. "Do you remember what they said after that?"

Lee nodded. "_a JU douc Arzyle. a JU dindouc t- maevoar. mArzuk amai ofreg._"

"What does that mean?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Take care of your task, Arzyle," Lee translated, "for we shall no longer walk upon the earth."

"That's so sad," Ino said. "Why won't they walk on the earth?"

"Psh, that sounds like a load of," Kiba started, but Chouji elbowed the boy.

"Hey, it's not nice to make fun of someone's religion," Chouji pointed out. "It'd be like someone telling you that loving a dog is stupid."

Kiba crossed his leather garbed arms over his chest. "Whatever," he said.

"So what next?" Shikamaru asked to continue the story.

"Sounds like the goddesses walked the earth before the Arthlezenithites took off," Neiji said, "but they felt it was a mistake to do so."

"And th-their influence s-somehow… um, i-influenced the, um… wars?" Hinata guessed.

"Huh," Naruto and Lee both glanced at each other. "I never looked at it that way." Naruto told Lee.

"I did not either," Lee said. "I shall pray extra hard, tonight!" Lee said with determination. "I shall thank the Ladies for the many blessings that have been bestowed upon me, such as intelligent friends who have brought many new ponderings to me."

"What about humans? What does your religion say about humans?" Sakura asked.

"Oh," Naruto scratched his chin in thought. "Many years had passed since the goddesses left the earth, and the descendant of Arzyle felt lonely. See, the Arthlezenithites create their children. They're perfect beings, with all the knowledge in the world, but Arzyle the IX was alone. He didn't like that, so he prayed to the goddesses for company. The goddesses hated to see their only remaining child so lonely but they did not want to award him or make him think he would always get his prayers answered."

"And they did not want to repeat what happened to their children. Instead, they created man—an imperfect being. With the creation of man, the goddesses gave Arzyle's descendants the task of watching over man, and learning from their mistakes." Lee added.

"Hey, has anyone seen Sasuke?" Naruto asked abruptly, noticing the distinct absence of his friend. How long had Sasuke not been there?

"He wasn't here when I got here," Sakura said, quite suddenly looking apprehensive. Naruto knew her thoughts. Everyone there could've guessed her thoughts faster than it took to blink.

"He was here earlier," Naruto insisted.

"He felt it was too crowded," Neiji explained. "He was headed toward the academy district when he left."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "The academy district is in the other direction from the exits out of Konoha, at least." She whispered to Ino. Ino nodded her agreement. Neither wanted to lose Sasuke now that they had him back.

"I'm going to run and check on Sasuke anyway," Naruto said, getting up. A few others moved to follow, but he waved them to sit back down. "I'll only be a couple'a minutes. At this hour, he's probably already at Iruka-sensei's dorm. I'll come back, though." He grinned at them all. "The night's still young," his watch said 9:33 PM, "and I'm starved!"

They laughed easily at him. He only had fourteen bowls in front of him, which wasn't counting the many he'd had before any of them even came to Ichiraku. The serving girl came in with another cup of warm milk for him and a round of colas for all the others. "Oh, Naruto, are you leaving?"

"Just temporarily," Naruto said.

"Well, here," she handed him the glass off milk. "I'll trust you to bring it back," she winked at him and he took it with a big thanks.

"I'll be back before any of you can say 'Ichiraku ramen is the best ramen in the whole wide world!'" Naruto said before walking out the door. He heard them all chorusing his words inside Ichiraku and laughed. Yes, it was good to be back in Konoha. He'd said it many times to himself since he'd returned from his two and a half year 'training session' with Jiraiya but he really meant it.

He walked down the street, sipping at the cup of warm milk. He didn't know what it was about warm milk that he liked. Maybe it was it's warmth… or maybe it was the milk part…

_Or maybe you're more like me than you know_. Kyuubi breathed in his mind.

"I'm not like you," Naruto told the fox. "I just…"

_Just what? You enjoy warm milk—one of my favorites before I got locked in this cell. You enjoy a good prank… did anyone ever tell you how I loved a good pranking? See, like me._

"Okay, we're similar," Naruto conceded. "But that doesn't mean anything. Look, I'm grateful for your encouragement back in the prison, but you gotta get out of my head. Okay?"

_So… just to make this clear… if someone's about to whack you on the back of the head, you _don't_ want me to warn you?_

Naruto paused in his step as the fox's transparent form became visible in front of him. The fox was staring at him speculatively. He sighed, knowing by now that he was the only one who could see the fox like he was. He didn't know why he could, just that he could. "Okay, if someone's going to whack me on the head, by all means, tell me. But don't compare me to you. I'm not like you. I get enough of that shit from people around Konoha. I… it's like I said in jail, I just want to be _me_. I'm tired of being seen as you."

_Someone's going to whack you on the back of the head._ Kyuubi said.

"What?" Naruto blinked and his face scrunched up, trying to puzzle out Kyuubi's words. What did he mean by that? The meaning came in the form of a very hard, very painful whack on the back of the head. It was just a good thing he usually landed on his head because he could last quite a few whacks. The glass fell to the ground and shattered, all the good milk being wasted. "Ow, damn it, you meant literal not figurative!" He put his hands to his head and turned to his attacker.

Imagine his surprise when he saw… "ANBU!" he gasped. "I didn't do anything wrong!" he yelled. The ANBU member shrugged. "Look, whatever it is, I didn't do it! I swear!"

Kyuubi chuckled. _He's going to swing._

True to Kyuubi's prediction, the ANBU member swung the bat he had as a choice weapon. Naruto skipped backward to avoid the oncoming blow, reaching instinctively into his nin-kit for a weapon to protect himself. "Damn it, Kyuu," he said, shortening the fox's name as he had come to do in jail. "I can't use weapons against this guy! I don't want to hurt him."

_He wants to hurt you, so why the hell not?_ Kyuubi inquired.

"Talking to yourself now?" the ANBU asked, his voice muffled by the mask.

"Look, guy," Naruto said, skipping away from another swing. "I don't want to hurt you, so stop attacking me! Tell me what you want from me!"

"I'm the one with the bat," the ANBU stated calmly. "And you are the one who will not fight back. We both know how this is going to end, and it will not be in your favor."

"Like hell it won't," Naruto growled. He turned to run, but ended up stopping before he could get more than a foot from the broken glass and spilled milk on the paved street path. "Shit, more of you!" More ANBU members had crowded the street behind him while he was occupied with the other one. "I didn't do anything wrong! Sasuke and me weren't fighting!"

_Behind you,_ Kyuubi warned him, but the ANBU now behind him had come upon him with a wet piece of cloth that he shoved over Naruto's nose and mouth. He was held still for a moment. _I guess they decided against attempting the bat on a knucklehead like you,_ Kyuubi snickered.

Naruto fought for consciousness, but the chloroform had done its job. He vaguely recalled something about chloroform and head whacks that didn't sit exactly right… but then it was too dark to really do much thinking. He was unconscious within a moment.

* * *

**Thanks to: **supersillee06 (Kakashi will come back in eventually...poor guy. I'm putting him through a lot), Dark Inu Fan (So it's been confirmed that _something_ happened to Naruto while in solitary... but what? Is it even important? Stay tuned to find out more!), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (Poor Itachi? Tsk, tsk, I say. Evil Sakura. Muahaha!), DarkRavie (why thank you!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (They should pull the tricks as soon as they're _un_kidnapped. That help at all?), Ichihime (I trust Itachi! Really, I do. I trust he will be wicked, devious, cunning and strong. And I trust he will not kill Sasuke yet. Did I say 'yet'? Oops...I mean...ever... Okay, seriously he won't, but it's not for lack of me trying. I just can't kill Sasuke and make Sasuke's pairing work out. He's kind of gotta be alive.), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 37 after I posted chapter 38. 

ANSWER: Dun dun dun... Something's happening... but what? Any guesses? I made this chapter extra long because it took so long to post, so please guess at what's going on!

_Remember last Christmas Eve when we sat next to our first tree, and you reviewed..._


	39. Iruka's Deception

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 39: Iruka's Deception

"So the power really did go out?" Sakura asked. Ino nodded. "And you guys were really accused of stealing those newspapers?" Again Ino nodded. "And you really got drunk?" Ino made a face that time.

"Well, there's something you should understand," Ino said. "I don't remember drinking, per say, but I remember having a lot of punch."

"I seem to recall Fuyumi-chan liking a good spiked punch," Sakura said.

"You know, you'd never believe it looking at her. I mean, she's just fourteen," Ino said. "But then again, if you look at who she hangs out with…"

"Yeah, Bartol's a drunk from any perspective." Sakura said.

"But I do wonder who might've done it?" Ino said. "And why would they have done it? I mean, computer viruses are pretty dangerous from what I understand. They can't exactly be healed like we can do for real viruses."

"I-I am curious w-why the h-hospital and p-prison weren't hit at all," Hinata mentioned.

"Yeah," Ten-Ten said. "It does seem rather ironic. The two places it would hurt the most. If the prison loses power and the back-up generators don't kick in, all the cell doors would be able to open. If the hospital loses power…" she trailed off obviously. "I mean, doesn't it seem a little…?"

"Planned?" Sakura suggested. "I mean, if someone did it on purpose… found a way to shut down the entire city's power except those places… maybe they did it to hurt a specific person or group."

"Maybe… the newspaper?" Ino asked.

"It would seem that way," Sakura shrugged. "Hey, Ino, I have a question for you."

"I'm all ears, forehead girl." Ino told her.

"What could an eight year old possibly do to get put in prison?"

"There's an eight year old in prison?" Ino asked incredulously.

Sakura nodded. "I was placed in her cell for the week. She's an amazing little girl. Intelligent, cheerful, and she's bi-lingual. But she doesn't even know why she's in jail, and the guards… they…" Sakura stirred her soda with her straw distractedly.

"They what, Sakura?" Ino asked gently.

"They whipped her, and they call her demon constantly. I did what I could for her while I was there, but it's probably still going on now. I've got a meeting with Tsunade-sama next week. I'm going to try getting Rin-chan out of jail, but it just doesn't seem right."

"I'll put an ear to my contacts." Ino said casually. "Rin's the girl's name, hm?" Sakura nodded. "If there's anything to dig up on her, I'll find it."

"Thanks, Ino-pig."

"Anything for my forehead girl," Ino said. "Shouldn't Naruto have come back by now?"

Sakura looked at her watch. "You're right. It's been more than a half hour. It doesn't take that long to get back." She sighed. "We'd better get all of us to go after. If they got into a fight, it'll probably take all of us to separate them." She resigned herself to jail… again…

Ino whistled loudly and immediately everyone turned to look at her. "Okay, buds," Ino said shortly. "We have a situation. Naruto hasn't come back if you haven't noticed. We're guessing the number one blonde idiot said something to our hottest Sharingan-user and they're now destroying some section of Konoha that ought not be messed up. It's mission time!"

Shikamaru and Neiji headed out to the bar area to pay their tab and the rest of them filed out of the ramen shop. Once Shikamaru and Neiji joined them, they headed the shortest route to the academy district. Hinata was the one who found the shattered Ichiraku ramen cup—or more accurately… tripped over it.

"Eek!" she yelped as she stumbled. Neiji caught his cousin to save her from bodily harm and then knelt to investigate the cup. "S-sorry, Neiji-kun!" Hinata apologized.

"I believe this is the path Naruto took." Neiji said. "He must have met Sasuke here. There is blood on the ground."

"How troublesome," Shikamaru sighed and clucked his tongue.

"That doesn't make sense," Sakura said, coming forward to look at the cup. "Look at the buildings around us, and at the ground, and compare it to the damages of the other fights. The brief fight that got us put in jail cost thirteen thousand dollars worth of damaged tables, chairs, and other items."

"Sakura's right," Ino said. "As much as I love Sasuke, I have to admit he can't keep his head in a fight as well as I used to think."

"Maybe it's Naruto who brings that reaction out of Sasuke?" Ten-Ten suggested.

"Either way," Kiba said, "it still suggests they didn't actually fight here. They probably took it off somewhere so no one would be able to stop them."

"There's blood here," Neiji repeated. "It has already been proven to point that one punch thrown by either causes both to lose their heads. They disregard cost; they just want to beat the other. They wouldn't have cared to take it elsewhere."

"So w-what d-do you think, Neiji-kun?" Hinata asked.

Lee said, "Maybe that gentleman knows?"

Everyone looked at where Lee was pointing. The greasy looking person was sitting on a stoop, writing in a notepad. None of them knew who he was or why he was so conveniently there, but Sakura took the initiative and walked up to him. "Excuse me?" she asked him.

He glanced up at her. "I don't need no charity," he told her. "Paid, I am. Be off with you, l'il chit."

"Uh, did you see someone here within the last forty minutes? Blonde hair, blue eyes, medium build? About fifteen years old?" Sakura asked, getting straight to the point.

"Oh, Uzumaki, you mean?" the man snorted. "Kid was walkin', mindin' his own business. I was followin' him, see, 'cause that's me job, right? I duck in th' alley t' wiz, 'cause it ain't hard t' catch up wit' the kid. He's goin' slow, an' talkin' t' 'imself, right? Then, I comes outta th' alley, right? An' there's all these ANBU. Gotta be like ten or twelve o' them, jus' surroundin' 'em. One o' dems got a bat, see, an' he's swingin' it like a—that! And, wham. Then, boom, got the brat pinned."

"You were following him?" Shikamaru questioned. "Why?"

"It's me job, mate. Get caught fer petty thievery, but the big guy says he's gonna let me off th' hook if I follow this one guy 'round an' send 'em messages all 'bout the Uzumaki. But 'taint my job t' mess 'tween ANBU."

The teens all blinked at the shady character sitting on the stoop. "Okay, whoever hired you was a moron," Kiba told the man. "We could all do better spy work when we were _eight_, and you just told us more than enough."

"Shh," Shikamaru told Kiba and the shady character suddenly clammed up.

"Who hired you?" Ino asked.

"'Taint tellin'," the man said.

Ten-Ten balled up her fist and grabbed the man's greasy shirt, pulling him up with hardened muscles of a kunoichi-weapons specialist. "You'll tell, or I'll shove my fist down your throat." Ten-Ten said in a very good impression of an intimidating interrogator.

"I-It w-was the Kaze! The Kazekage. He hired me. Only don't hurt me!"

Neiji asked, "Why would Gaara hire someone to follow Naruto?"

"At least, why would he hire _this_ incompetent? I could see Gaara hiring someone to follow the only person to ever beat him but…" Sakura asked. "I mean, no holds barred, we just got private information out of him."

"He's lying," Shikamaru said. "It must be a lie to save his sorry ass. It's more likely he was going to rob Naruto. He probably jumped Naruto, Naruto kicked his ass, the glass got broke, and Naruto was too embarrassed to come back because the precious Ichiraku glass had been broken."

The man started nodding insistently. "Ya, ya, that's how it went! I never knew'd th' kid were a shinobi. Jus' looked all stupid an' all, so's I thought, could get me some quick cash!" he said. Ten-Ten released the man.

"Well, we should still check to be sure Naruto's okay," Lee said. The slippery man left them there as fast as his greasy little feet would go.

"I agree," Neiji said. "We can check at the academy district for Sasuke and Naruto before parting for the evening. Agreed?" A nod of approval went around the group.

Hinata picked up the Ichiraku glass and the bigger pieces. "I-I think I w-will take this b-back to Ichiraku."

"Good idea, Hinata-sama. I will see you at home."

"We should report the thief to the Hokage!" Lee insisted.

Neiji looked at the others. "Lee is right. The thief should be detained and reported. Lee and I will take care of that, and the rest of you can check on Sasuke and Naruto."

"The group gets thinner and thinner," Ino sighed. "If they _are_ fighting, I'm not sure we can break them apart."

"They're probably not fighting," Shikamaru clucked his tongue. "But this is so troublesome."

The group parted from Lee and Neiji as the two went after the thief. The somewhat tense atmosphere was broken by the amused laughter of teens attempting to cut through that tension, but soon even their laughing died as they neared the Genin academy teacher's dorm. It was after ten so most of the lights were off in the dorm building, but the front door remained unlocked as all shinobi dorm buildings were.

They entered and looked at each other in confusion. "Ah, okay, now is when we ask which dorm is Iruka-sensei's." Kiba muttered. "Anyone got any clue which floor he might be on?" All they had to go by was a sign by the staircase reading 'Floors B, C, D' with an up-arrow, a door to their left that said 'A1', and a door on their right that said 'A2'.

"This would've been useful information to know," Ten-Ten said.

Chouji said, "Neiji's Byakugan would've been useful right about now. Shika, do you have any snacks?" Obviously Chouji had not come prepared for this particular excursion, but Shikamaru had that area covered. He pulled out a small pre-packaged bag of mini-cookies and handed them over. "Thanks!"

"And Hinata's also gone. So, Kiba, how's your nose?" Ino asked.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "I'm good, but not that good. Do you know how many smells there are here? Bad enough my head's spinning."

"So, do we knock on all the doors?" Sakura asked hesitantly. "I'd rather not. I remember Iruka-sensei when he was angry, and that wasn't pretty at all. I don't really care to find out if other Genin teachers are the same."

"I don't either." Kiba said.

"I say we give up and go home," Shikamaru said—ever the first one to quit a task before it even really began. "If they're fighting, they can go back to jail."

Sakura paled severely at the thought of jail. She couldn't do it again. She couldn't bear to watch Naruto get the flesh whipped off his back again. "I'll do it!" she said. "You guys just wait outside, okay?"

She received many questioning looks but she didn't respond to them. "Okay," Ino said. "But girl, we are _definitely_ having a nice long talk tonight… when I sleep over at your house. So don't try escaping this."

Sakura nodded and the others turned back around and congregated toward the academy district bridge to wait for her. She steeled her emotions, not about to let them get the best of her now when she needed strength. She headed for the door reading A1 and entered the corridor. Judging by the fact that most of them had no lights on beneath them, but the very farthest one, she decided it would be best to knock on the door at the end.

She headed toward it and knocked. If she was really lucky, it would be Iruka-sensei's dorm. If she was half lucky, they would know which dorm she needed to go to. She knocked and heard a quiet, 'Coming,' from within. The door opened and revealed a thin, wiry shinobi in nothing more than his knickers. "Yeah, what'd'ya want?" he asked.

She felt her face heat up as if she were drenched in boiling water. "Um, do you know which dorm is Iruka Umino's dorm?"

"What's he done, taking an orphanage up there?" the teacher scoffed. "All I know is he's on floor D, through door 2. I don't know what dorm door." He shut the door before she could thank him.

She tried to tell him anyway. "Thank you," she said through the door. She turned and walked back to the entrance, then headed up the stairs. It was so weird being in the teacher's dorm building. The doors in D2 had no lights shining out from beneath the crack of the doors. She had to resign herself to knocking on the first one.

Several knocks later, there was still no answer. She moved onto the next door. That one was answered by Anko, surprisingly enough. "Anko-sensei," Sakura said in surprise. "I didn't know you were taking up a teaching position at the academy."

Anko sighed. "You didn't come knocking on my door to look so surprised. What do you want?" she demanded.

"Oh, you're right. Which dorm is Iruka-sensei's? I'm looking for Sasuke and Naruto."

"Two doors down," Anko said. "Now, mind, a woman's sleep." She slammed the door irritably. Sakura decided she would never become a teacher. They were all so crabby…

Sakura thanked her lucky stars she didn't have to search much farther. She knocked on the door Anko had indicated and it was answered shortly by a tired looking Iruka. "Oh, Sakura. Hello, did the Hokage need something?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm looking for Sasuke and Naruto."

"I see," Iruka said. "Well, Sasuke found an apartment across town. The boys are staying there tonight, I suppose. They actually just left here with their blankets and pillows. You might be able to catch up to them if you move quickly."

"How long ago did they leave?" Sakura asked.

Iruka looked thoughtful. "I suppose they might've left ten or fifteen minutes ago…"

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei. I was worried they might've gotten into a fight. But they're okay, right?" Iruka nodded. "Okay, I guess I won't worry about it and I'll talk to them in the morning."

"Wise decision," Iruka agreed. "It's awfully late, so you should probably get some rest."

"I will. Thanks again. I'll have to beat the location of their apartment out of them tomorrow too!" Sakura chirped. "It's something to look forward to when Sasuke's finding himself a place to live!" She waved goodbye to the teacher and headed off toward the others. Within a few minutes, she had come upon them acting as teens would act (rough housing).

"Sakura, what's up?" Ino asked. "You seem bright and perky."

"I _am_ bright, and perky is a natural state of mind." Sakura said. "Everything's all clear," she confirmed. "Iruka-sensei said Sasuke and Naruto got an apartment."

"Is business like that usually conducted on a Friday evening?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't know," Kiba said. "I've never had to deal with civilians and least of all realtors of a civilian breed."

"Me neither," Chouji muttered. There was a chorus of agreement from the others.

Ino shrugged. "Guys, we're being overly suspicious here. Its possible Sasuke and Naruto got the apartment before they went to jail. I mean, really this is the first night they're out so the first night they could be moving in."

"I'm done with this. Whatever's up, Iruka-sensei didn't lie to me," Sakura said. "He wouldn't have any reason to. I'm going home and to bed." She glanced at Ino, who would surely follow if given the opportunity. "And you're not coming."

"Am too," Ino said.

"Are not!" Sakura said back.

"I am too!" Ino said.

Sakura growled. "You're not!"

Amidst the girls' argument, the rest of the teens slipped stealthily away.

xXx

Iruka sighed in relief as he flipped the light switch back on in his dorm. That had definitely been too close for comfort. If he hadn't heard the bickering of the kids through his window as they crossed the bridge, he wouldn't have even had any warning at all.

He crossed the room and glanced down at the very tied up boys. Both of them had chakra juicing bands as well as ropes to bind them. With another heavy sigh—this one of weariness—he set back down at his desk to continue making the strength juicing bands. He had to complete them before the boys could be moved to the Forbidden Forest, and they had to be moved before they woke up.

He wasn't sure how long they'd remain out, so he wanted to hurry.

xXx

Kagome paced back and forth in the spacious living room to Gaara's home. Unsurprisingly—they were in a desert after all—the room had the misfortune to be dusted in sand particles from hanging tapestries to furniture to the carpeting. She liked Gaara's home, but she could hardly be expected to enjoy it when she was as agitated as she was.

"Kabuto should be here with the others by now," Kagome said, but the only other person present didn't respond. The shinobi who she knew Gaara had assigned to watch over her was standing silently, almost invisibly, against one shadowy corner of the room. "I should go out and check and see what is taking him," Kagome said.

She paced several times before responding back harshly to herself, imitating Itachi's voice. "My Lady, you need not concern yourself. I'm sure Kabuto is fine." She kicked at the carpeting and little dust particles took to the air, sparkling in the light emitting from the fireplace. It was all she had for light, because she didn't feel like flipping a little switch to turn on the lights. "I bet that's what Itachi would say if he were here." She groused.

Again she paced and the carpet nearly groaned as she continued to wear a pathway down the center of it. Gaara had come for dinner, eaten, and gone straight back to work. The hours he worked were insane, but she wasn't going to start bickering with him about them now that she knew he had a demon infestation inside him. Poor guy… at least the 'medicine' worked.

She had to admit ignorance when she started weaning Gaara off of the real version of medication. She'd slowly over the past year replaced the medicinal herbs with a bitter leaf used in many teas. She didn't feel as guilty as she would have if the 'medicine' didn't work, but she still decided never to let him know he wasn't actually drinking medication. If he was fooled, then maybe the demon was fooled?

She hoped…

"It's a hundred thousand years past when Kabuto should've arrived!" Kagome exaggerated, throwing her hands up in the air and then herself onto Gaara's couch. She had liberated some nice maroon silk pajamas from Gaara's closet for sleep-wear. They weren't likely something Gaara would be wearing any time soon, since they were too small for the young Kazekage and fit her almost perfectly, so she doubted he would mind.

On the other hand, if she did feel like taking something he would mind about, she doubted he'd have the guts to bring it up. All she would have to do was glare at him and make him think she was severely ticked off and he would cave. She used to do it to him all the time as a child.

One of her favorite memories was when she was seven and he had come to visit her at the shrine. "Gaara-kun," she had said, "I want a piggy back ride. Give me a piggy back ride."

Kagome's sister had scoffed at her for her childish behavior, but Kagome was seven and childish behavior was what she was good at. "You fool," Kikyou had said back then. Now that Kagome thought about it, she wasn't exactly sure who Kikyou had been talking to… Gaara or Kagome. She had glared at them both.

"I do not want to give you a piggy back ride." Gaara said and he hugged his teddy bear.

She had fisted her hands up and yelled at him, "I want a piggy back ride and you will give me a piggy back ride!"

"Yes, alright!" Gaara had said, backing away from her fury. "I will give you a piggy back ride, but you have to hold Teddy."

…She wasn't really sure what made that such a good memory, come to think of it. For her, she had gotten her way, but then again, she always got her way. She was very much like her father in that regards, because he hated when things didn't go his way.

"Okay, I'll count to one hundred, and if Kabuto isn't here, I'm going out there to find out what's keeping him." Kagome insisted. "Bad enough Itachi has to drag off to who-knows-where without even bothering to tell me he was disappearing! Would it really kill a guy to say, 'By the way, I'm going to pop off the face of the earth for a while,' I don't think so!!"

"Having fun?" Kisame asked her in his gravelly voice. The thirty-one year old grinned with a mouth full of sharp, carnivorous teeth, and the firelight glinted off his blue flesh. He hadn't always looked as he did, but Kisame was a Summoner and his Level Three Summon Creature was Samehada.

Samehada was more of a spirit than he had an actual form, so he possessed the ridiculously large sword Kisame wielded. One of the set-backs to having a Level Three Summon who didn't have a form of its own meant that Kisame ended up with blue skin, gills, and a more shark-like appearance.

As usual, Samehada was strapped to Kisame's back, and the black cloak's red clouds were more of a muddy brown due to Kisame's inability to keep from muddy environments—though where he came across mud in the desert was beyond her imagination.

Behind Kisame was Deidara, a Summon Exterminator who specialized in explosives and had a slight tendency to act like a pyromaniac. He really needed to work on his public behavior… actually, so did Kisame. Kisame had developed Samehada's positively enchanting manner of liking things in pieces. Of liking… people… in pieces. She was still working with Kisame on that, and he was doing better in public.

Following Deidara into the room was Sasori, looking quite like himself for once. Sasori was a talented Summon Exterminator who enjoyed playing with puppets so much that he turned his own body into one, retaining his youthful appearance. He also had a disturbing tendency to enjoy seeing dead bodies. He liked to preserve dead bodies and make them into puppets.

Of course, she was working on that disconcerting fact. If it weren't for the fact that the three of them obeyed her as if she were their queen, she might have severed all contact with them long ago. It was karma that when her whole clan was massacred, the heavens would give her these three to piece her life back together. Karma had a sick sense of humor.

"Ooh, such a nice house, that Gaara has," Deidara said. His eyes connected with the fire and she frowned. "He has a fireplace?! Oooh, how fun!"

"Deidara," Kagome warned him, sitting up fully to send him a stern glare. "Leave the fire in the pit, or no supper."

Deidara threw his lip out in a pout immediately. "Fine, I'll leave it alone for now."

"Not just for now, Deidara," Kagome told him. "Leave it alone. It's there to keep us warm, not to turn me into extra crispy chicken." She noticed the young shinobi's discomfort practically immediately. "You can go now if you want to," she told him. "Gaara just wanted someone with me in case someone decided to chuck tomatoes or some such nonsense."

"Gaara wanted someone with you in case you decided to get lost as you have a great knack for doing," Kabuto said as he entered the room. He glanced at the shinobi in the corner. "Check in with Gaara and inform him they're here." He jutted his head at the three figures in the black cloaks. "Also, give him this." Kabuto handed a rolled up scroll to the shinobi and the man left quickly.

"What was that?" Kagome asked Kabuto as the three somewhat clinically insane traveling Akatsuki members took their cloaks off and quickly made the living room their new nest. That was another thing Kagome had to teach them… okay, maybe that really went along with the whole 'manners' teachings. She doubted she'd ever catch up with those manners.

Why did her father take these three into the clan again?

Kabuto shrugged. "Kisame decided to dismember the messenger carrying it on the way here. That's why we're late. I figured it might be important."

Kagome's eyes became as wide as tennis balls and she glanced at Kisame. "KISAME!" she gasped.

Kisame grinned cheekily. "Got'cha," he teased. "Have you heard from Itachi lately?"

"No. I was hoping you guys might've. How long ago did he leave you?" she asked. She glared at the amused Akatsuki members and then at Kabuto. That was a mean trick to play.

"Auhg," Sasori said in thought, "a few weeks, auhg."

"Where could he have gone?" Kagome wondered.

"He had an errand to run," Kisame said.

"One that takes as long as he appears to have been gone?" Kabuto remarked.

"It's what he said," Kisame insisted. "I thought he would have checked with the princess before going, but apparently not."

Kagome sighed and flopped back down on the couch. "Deidara, don't sit so close to the fire." She said absently. "I don't want you singeing your hair. It's such a nice color."

"I'm not a natural red-head," Deidara pointed out. "I just happened to like the color. Fire is red."

"Fire is also blue, and green, and white, and orange," Kagome pointed out. "What makes red so special?"

"Because a smoldering log burns red." Deidara said.

"But the ashes turn white, or black, or gray. So why is red so special?" Deidara opened his mouth to retort, but she cut him off. "Back up, Deidara. I'm not going to tell you again." He made a face at her before backing up a meter. What did he think she would do if he decided not to listen to her? What did they _all_ think she would do?

That was one thing she didn't enjoy about being clan leader. She was younger than them, but they obeyed her with very little argument. She would feel so responsible if anything happened to them… She hated that.

She decided to ask that. She sat up and looked at the four men in the room. Kabuto had made himself comfortable on the other end of her couch, lifting her feet and placing them in his lap. Deidara was curled up by the fire like a comfortable puppy. Kisame had taken a seat in a chair he'd dragged over by the window, preferring to feel the chill of the desert night to the heat radiated from the fireplace. Sasori, in his youthful body that looked no older than a twelve year old, had his feet up on the back of the love seat and his head falling off the cushions.

"Why do you guys listen to me? You're all older, and smarter, and stronger. So why do you care what I say? Why do you listen to me?"

"Because you are your father's daughter," Kisame said gravely. "And your mother's daughter. And you are you."

"I don't get it," Kagome admitted.

Kabuto smiled at her. "You may not be anywhere near as powerful as Kisame is at Summoning, but you're still young. Give yourself time to settle in your skin. You have potential; we know this because others have only dreamed of achieving what you did at age three."

"I fell off a cliff," Kagome told Kabuto. "I summoned them by accident."

"Are there really accidents like that?" Deidara asked. "If there are, I'd like one of those to happen to me."

"But why listen to me?" Kagome asked. "Why don't any of you take the clan? You could if you wanted to."

"Itachi would kill us," Sasori said seriously. "He's leader of Akatsuki. You made him that. He trusts you, and not many can get Itachi's trust. You know that. You've never once given us a reason to question your motives, and we trust you like Itachi does."

"But," Kagome tried again.

"It's simple, princess," Kabuto told her. "You're young, and not exactly very strong. We know this, but we're here to guide you. And we're here for Sango-sama in the same way." He lifted her foot to inspect it. "You've been walking around barefoot in the desert, haven't you? I just healed those scratches this morning." he changed the subject quickly and admonished her for the scratches on the bottom of her feet. Apparently there were rocks in the desert. Who would've thought?

"I got sick of those shoes. They kept whacking my heels with every step!" she said. "I'm still wide awake. Anyone hungry?" They all perked up. Her eyes fell on Kabuto. The light from the fireplace caused a glare on his round glasses, making it impossible to see where his eyes were. A small speck of hope formed in her heart. If Kabuto was alive… maybe others were too?

* * *

**Thanks to: **Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I thought it would be lame if all of them just...accepted Sasuke again... I mean, he did take off, and that has consequences, right?), supersillee06 (Ooooh, I bet you never expected this...), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (Yes, please pay attention whilst reading my story), zoey tamagachi (welcome to the story, I think you're new), DarkRavie, Ichihime (Oooh, ho ho ho...the council...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 38 after I posted chapter 39. 

ANSWER: One more chapter to find out what's going on with Sasuke and Naruto. Or at least, part of it. I'm not entirely sure if I'll get a lot of the point done in the next chapter.

_Dear darling, your mom, my friend, left a message on my machine, she was frantic, saying you wanted to...leave me a review._


	40. Kyuubi's Manipulation

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 40: Kyuubi's Manipulation

_Naruto… yoo-hoo… Na-ru-to… Oi, buddy, wake up… Naruto! You know, any enemy could just walk up and slice your throat open. Wake up! Waaaake uuuuup! Okay, if you don't wake up, I'm going to possess you. Oh wow, you're a heavy sleeper. Maybe they knocked you a little hard on the head. _

_ Aw man, I don't want to possess you, so wake up! Well, I would possess you, if you weren't a hormonal teenager, but you are… so I don't really want to. So, alternative options? You waking up. That sounds like a great idea. Let's put that plan into motion, Naruto. Wake up. _

_ Wakie wakie, eggs and bakey! Ooh, eggs and bacon… That sounds really good right now. I'm hungry. Ooh, you twitched. So, food wakes you? _

_ SOMEONE STOLE THE RAMEN! _

xXx

Naruto sat up, wide awake, and shouted, "Save the ramen, save the ramen, catch the thief!" except it sounded more like, "Mmmhph, mmmhph, mhmhnph!" He looked at himself in confusion. His hands and feet were bound, and he was leaning against something warm—not just leaning against it, but tied up to it. He turned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of that something and smelled the distinct scent that was Sasuke.

Even growing up, he had always been curious about Sasuke's scent. He always smelled like burning wood, but in a good way. Since his return, Sasuke also smelled like tempered metal. It was weird that Naruto even noticed those things and it definitely made him question his sanity, not to mention his sexuality. The awkward thought that Sakura didn't attract him like she used to came to mind. He used to get fluttery butterflies in his stomach when he was around her. Now, he could _kiss_ her and those butterflies remained absent.

Was he really gay? Should he really be going to the library and reading up on gay 'how to' books?

Curiously, Naruto shifted slightly to sniff Sasuke. He was sitting very close to Sasuke, and his own heart was… pounding. Why? No! He didn't want to be gay! His mind caught up with his senses somewhat belatedly. The metallic scent around Sasuke was a little stronger than normal, and wasn't like the scent of a kunai's metal, but more like blood. His heart was pounding because he could smell blood on his friend and didn't know why that blood was there.

Or why he and Sasuke were tied up. He had to stop questioning his sexuality now and begin questioning why he was…wherever 'here' was, tied up, and with a rather sore bump on his head. And not to mention that gag in his mouth.

He glanced around him. No one was present. Whoever his kidnappers were this time, they hadn't stuck around. He was in what appeared to be the tower in the Forbidden Forest; he remembered the tower from the Chunin exam. There hadn't been much but a staircase leading up to a single room mostly bare of any furniture or other items of comfort. 

No, there was nothing in this room except a bunch of leaves that had blown in through glassless windows. A few mice scurried here and there, obviously having made the stone tower their home in the months when no Chunin exam was happening. It was chilly but his back was warm due to the fact that he was back to back with Sasuke.

He struggled against the bonds that tied him up, but the strength juicers instantly kicked in and within seconds he felt weaker than a newborn kitten. "Sasuke," he called. "Are you awake?" He received no answer. Sasuke's head remained in the awkward position on his shoulder. He would have a crick in his neck if he didn't hold his head up. Well, if he couldn't feel pain, would that crick bother him?

"Kyuu?" he called, glancing as much around the room as he could. "Are you here?"

_What's the problem, kit?_ Kyuubi asked, instantly responding to his call and materializing in his ghostly form in front of Naruto. _I woke you, didn't I? Isn't that enough for you?_

"Is Sasuke okay?" he asked the fox. "I'm sort of stuck right now and I can smell blood on him."

_The blood is yours, not his. He is fine, but sleeping._ Kyuubi peered around the dismal tower, and then rested his eyes on a scurrying mouse. _That mouse… it looks pretty tasty. I'd prefer rabbit, but… _

Why was he bleeding? Oh yeah, the ANBU had knocked him upside the head. "Can you do anything to get me out of these ropes?" Naruto asked.

The fox raised an eyebrow at him. _If I could, would I want to?_

"Uh, yeah?" Naruto glared at the fox. "I haven't forgotten your little 'slip up' back then. If I die here, so do you. So get the ropes off me."

Kyuubi sighed. His form changed from that of a small, ghost-like fox into a bright hovering orb that looked like a floating Rasengan, only half as big. He floated through the air like a feather, back and forth toward Naruto. Then the Kyuubi-orb darted into Naruto's chest.

Naruto still couldn't get over the sensation of Kyuubi possessing him. The first few times Kyuubi did it while Naruto was stuck in solitary, Kyuubi had forced the possession. Naruto had felt so violated, but Kyuubi proved he didn't care. After Kyuubi had done it a few times (he only stayed in control of Naruto's body for a short period of time), Naruto blew up at the fox. During that time, Kyuubi slipped up and revealed that he would die if Naruto died, as long as Seal #2 was still in place. Using that knowledge to his advantage, Naruto threatened Kyuubi into stopping.

Of course, Kyuubi agreed to stop only because he valued his life. Naruto would have taken his life if Kyuubi possessed him anymore, because he couldn't risk allowing himself to become a danger to Konohagakure. But Kyuubi wouldn't even talk to Naruto after the threat. He disappeared and Naruto was really alone in solitary. He thought he was losing his mind in there.

He'd wanted to see _someone_, and Kyuubi was the only one he could see without leaving solitary. Why did he stay? He knew he could get out if he wanted to. He knew deep in his soul that no walls could contain him. But Tsunade said he had a lesson to learn in prison, so he wanted to stay and learn it. Call him a fool for it, but she was right.

He'd hit his head on the wall until he managed to fall unconscious and slipped into the world of his mind where he could see Kyuubi. He'd found Kyuubi pouting in his cell, even though Seal #1 had been released and he could go where he wanted. Kyuubi attempted to ignore him, but eventually Naruto got the fox speaking and they came to a compromise.

Kyuubi could possess him, but _only_ if Naruto gave him permission first. It was a win-win solution, and as agreed to the terms, Naruto let Kyuubi possess him a few more times while in prison. It was kind of gross, waking up from the possession the first time after the compromise and finding his hands covered in rat blood, a half-eaten rat hugged to him.

And every time after the compromise… Kyuubi had caught a rat and eaten half of it, sometimes more than half of it. Naruto was worried he would catch a disease from the rats, but Kyuubi assured him he caught only healthy animals. Naruto still didn't believe Kyuubi, and told himself as soon as he could get away from his friends without suspicion, he'd go to the hospital to get checked out. After all, he wasn't about to tell his friends that his meals in solitary weren't just water and a lump of hard bread.

It was weird; before the compromise, Naruto didn't recall waking up with any dead rats after being possessed. It was possible Kyuubi had done it then, but had hidden the remains. After all, it was very dark in solitary, and his body was already a bit sticky from his back bleeding. Thankfully they allowed him to shower before leaving prison.

It was disturbing all the menacing glances he'd received in the prison shower room… all those men staring at him… But Kyuubi had suggested he snarl at them and see what happened. They cleared a huge path for him, and kept their distance. He supposed it really helped having blood on him, some fresh and most of it dried a lot of it around his mouth and on his hands.

The warden had been the one to take Naruto out of solitary, so he was the first to see him as he was. Kyuubi had made a bone necklace out of some rat bones and the pelt of one. Actually, that was also pretty gross, but Naruto had it around his neck as he came out of solitary and he hadn't even known it was there. It wasn't like _he_ put it on. The pelt was still wet, and some of the bones still had meat on them but by then he was full of rat blood so he didn't notice the difference.

Kyuubi really needed a hobby… like Shogi or Go or something. Maybe checkers.

And while Kyuubi possessed Naruto, Naruto was asleep—if he was possessed while sleeping—or stuck in his mind, unable to know what was going on in the outside world, if he was possessed while awake.

At the moment, he was stuck in his mind. He should've told Kyuubi to leave the mice alone before he let him take over. Hopefully the demon had the presence of mind to NOT eat said animals while possessing Naruto. Or, maybe the demon would skin and cook the mice this time? That was probably asking too much.

A thought hit him like ice water. Kyuubi wouldn't eat Sasuke, would he?

"Kyuubi, don't eat Sasuke!" he yelled, but his voice only made an echo in his mind and he received no response. He felt anxious at the thought of his best friend going through his digestion track. Yuck. Wait… he only felt disgust at his best friend being digested…but not the eating part? What the hell was wrong with him? Did that make him gay if he didn't have a problem with eating his best friend? He had some serious issues…

When he woke up, he was going to have a chat with Tsunade and see what she thought of the idea of therapy. He'd have to take some time off of missions, but in the long run, it might be a good idea to have his head psychoanalyzed.

xXx

Sasuke's eyes shot open the minute he tasted blood in his mouth. There was a finger on his tongue, he realized. He shot away from the person who had stuck their finger in his mouth and gagged on the taste of blood on his tongue. It wasn't that he was not used to the taste of blood. He'd gotten punched in the face enough times to know what blood tasted like.

He spat the blood out, trying to use his spit to clear the taste out of his mouth. It was disgusting and warm and metallic, and it was _blood_. The taste of blood in his mouth brought back memories of his time with Orochimaru, and of things he would rather remain forgotten.

He had to remind himself he wasn't with Orochimaru—but that simply led to a sense of unease. The last thing he remembered was being attacked by Iruka near the academy district bridge, and then he'd fallen unconscious. Was it Iruka who put blood in his mouth (and their finger…)?

He looked at the offender, vowing to kill the person if it was Iruka. If it wasn't Iruka, he wasn't quite sure what he'd do yet, but he'd figure that out when he got that far. He also wasn't quite sure how he'd kill Iruka yet since his hands were tied together and his legs were bound tightly. The ropes on his arms had chakra juicers on them, keeping him from using chakra as well.

He glared at the offender, but the glare practically fell away instantly. "Naruto?" he asked, not really sure he was seeing what he swore his eyes saw. The blonde was no more than two feet away from Sasuke, his eyes glinting an eerie crimson color. His pupils were slits, and those Kyuubi-eyes were trained on Sasuke.

"Hey-o, Sasuke," Naruto said quietly as he brought a half-eaten, skinned mouse to his lips and bit down on it. There was a sickening crunch and squelching noise as teeth ground through bone and flesh. Blood spurted from several places on the tiny body. A lot of blood dripped down Naruto's chin dripping on the floor and on his clothing.

"Ugh, gross, Naruto." Sasuke hissed in disgust. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He had more than enough experience during his battle with Naruto at the Valley of the End to know Naruto had to be channeling Kyuubi's chakra for some reason. There could be no other reason why he had the fox's eyes.

"Nothing's wrong with him, Sasuke." Naruto chuckled. He tossed the half-eaten animal away from him with the casual air of one tossing a leaf to the wind. It made a wet splat sound as it landed on the stone floor. He crawled forward on his hands and feet as though he were an animal himself. Sasuke realized what was happening with Naruto's words. Naruto _wasn't_ himself. He was somehow being controlled by the fox inside him.

He backed away from Kyuubi-possessed Naruto, having to crawl due to his legs being all tied up. "Kyuubi, get out of Naruto," Sasuke said.

"Why?" Kyuubi grinned menacingly and crawled forward further. Sasuke continued inching backward. He was very uncomfortable with the fox having a physical body to manipulate, especially when he already had experience with how much Kyuubi could do without a physical body to appear in. "Did you want a mouse too?"

"No, I want you out of Naruto." Sasuke said. The strange dance continued and Sasuke's back came into contact with a wall. Triumph flashed in those crimson, slit-pupil eyes.

"Aw, but Sasuke, it's not fair for you to tell me to get out of his body when _he_ said I could possess him." Kyuubi was getting to be too close for Sasuke's comfort. Sasuke's eyes darted back and forth, searching for an escape that would be easy to handle while being tied up. The truth was, Sasuke didn't trust Kyuubi. Of course, who would trust a killer?

Did that make Sasuke a hypocrite? He was a shinobi, and he worked for and with people trained to kill.

There was no where Sasuke could go to get away; he was tied up and stuck, and the chakra juicers would prevent using chakra at all. "Naruto wouldn't let you possess him." Sasuke told Kyuubi. He was quite sure that Kyuubi was lying.

"He wouldn't?" Kyuubi padded even closer still to Sasuke. It was incredibly disturbing watching a bloody, sinister looking Naruto moving closer and closer to him until there was very little space between them and Naruto's body was straddling Sasuke's… and Naruto wasn't even in control of what was happening, because Sasuke _knew_ it was Kyuubi.

"No, he wouldn't," Sasuke insisted. Kyuubi was so close that crimson eyes were all Sasuke could see.

"He's not the same person he was before you left him," Kyuubi said. Sasuke could smell the rat blood, and it was causing him to want to salivate and gag simultaneously. Kyuubi grinned cruelly. "_You_ are not the same person you were before you left him either, are you, Sasuke?" He asked.

Sasuke chose not to lie. "No, Kyuubi, I am not." He admitted.

Kyuubi brought a bloody hand to his face and smeared the moist blood on his chin, his eyes glimmering with twisted humor. "Poor, _dear_ Sasuke," Kyuubi chanted softly, "can't have what he wants. He doesn't have the stomach for what he wants, but he's _addicted_ now… no turning back…"

Sasuke knew what Kyuubi was talking about. He wanted to know how Kyuubi knew, but he was afraid to ask. "Get out of Naruto," Sasuke said.

"Why?" Kyuubi asked again. "He'll never know… he doesn't _have_ to know… if you don't tell, I won't."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked. He didn't know what the mad fox was referring to. How would Naruto not know something, when it was his body that was being possessed? Was Naruto somehow not there? And what would he not know?

A feral gleam played in Kyuubi's eyes for a moment, and then lips pressed against Sasuke's. Sasuke would have darted away, or shoved Kyuubi, but he was tied up and cornered. He had no where to go. He tried to turn his head away from Kyuubi-possessed Naruto, but a bloody…_clawed_…hand grabbed him by the head and stilled his face.

Sasuke growled and bit down on Naruto's lip. It got Kyuubi to back up a bit. Sasuke spit out the blood that had quickly pooled in his mouth from Naruto's lip. "Get the hell off," Sasuke said. "I don't go for that."

Kyuubi seemed even more amused and pleased. "Do you remember that lovely morning on the bridge, when I answered your questions and you gave your word to owe me favors for those questions?"

"I don't give a shit what I said," Sasuke snapped. "You will _not_ have this."

"Oh, I don't want 'you', per say…" Kyuubi leaned forward, his hand brushing Sasuke's exposed neck and sliding under the collar of his tee-shirt. "Only your life." Kyuubi's free hand came up and a strength juicing ward was slapped to Sasuke's forehead. It began working immediately. He couldn't stay upright so he slumped down on his side.

"What the hell?" Sasuke asked, though talking was an effort in itself. "Kyuubi, whatever you're doing, _don't_." Sasuke growled. He started building his chakra up, regardless to the fact that the chakra juicers immediately kicked in. He wanted the Kyuubi-possessed Naruto _off_ him. If he could just wake Naruto up somehow…

"Don't do it, Kyuubi," the fox mimicked, and then said dangerously, "we made a deal, Sasuke. I told you I would let you know when I had a favor for you. Now is that time. I'm not a human, Sasuke. You'll know never to make a deal with a demon unless you know what they want from you, because we will always collect."

Sasuke's shirt came off with little resistance. Hands were placed on Sasuke's shoulders, lifting his upper body. "Why?" A thousand questions were voiced in just that one word. He hoped Kyuubi knew what those thousands of questions were.

"Why take your life?" Yes, that was one of the more prominent questions on Sasuke's mind. Kyuubi laughed. "Because your life is all I want." Sasuke couldn't believe how terrifying it was, watching Naruto's mouth open and fangs grow out of normal sized canine teeth. He couldn't do anything about it as Kyuubi dug those fangs into Sasuke's neck, unhindered by any shirt collar. He screamed, but no one came. The pain was awful, and then Kyuubi was in his mind. _You can feel this pain, can't you, Sasuke? _

Sasuke could feel when Kabuto's chakra seal burst on the curse seal Orochimaru had placed on him. The pain was like feeling an exploding tag burst on him, but even that pain was dulled by the pain of the curse seal activating. It spread like a wild fire through him. It was in his blood, it was in his brain, it was in his muscles and faster than he'd ever felt the curse seal move it was in his heart.

His Sharingan activated and his chakra was burning the ropes and the two separate juicers on his body to ashes. He barely noticed the lack of them. The pain was too intense. He could feel something new, something foreign slithering through his blood and causing the pain to worsen.

Then Sasuke was lying on his own and Kyuubi was moving away from him. Sasuke's body shuddered multiple times. Kyuubi used his arm to wipe some of the blood from his face, smearing it on the sleeve of the black and orange jacket. Blood was smeared down Sasuke's neck and on his shoulder. Some pooled on the ground.

And Kyuubi didn't seem to care. He waited for Sasuke's screams to subside and the convulsions to stop. Then when they did, Sasuke looked at Kyuubi. The Sharingan was still active. His brain processed each and every minute move that Kyuubi-possessed Naruto made but his thoughts were foggy. "What…?" Sasuke asked weakly. One word was all he could manage before his voice simply cracked.

"That is a marking," Kyuubi told him. "I overload you with my energy; if you survive, you're mine. That's how it works. It hurt you worse than it would anyone else because of two reasons; you've not felt pain in so long you aren't used to it, and because I had to destroy Orochimaru's mark to replace it with my own. When we meet in person, I might even tell you _why_ I chose to mark you." He laughed with a twisted sense of humor, as if he found Sasuke's pain and confusion funny. "Ta, love." He winked, dropped a sheet of paper so it drifted toward Sasuke, and then Naruto collapsed to the ground beside the bodies of several dead mice.

Sasuke struggled weakly to sit up and look at that paper.

**I'm sorry Sasuke,** the paper read, **but I had no choice. I didn't have the option to say no. Kyuubi would have killed Naruto if I didn't bring you. It's up to you whether or not you tell Naruto whatever happened out here. I don't know what Kyuubi wanted with you, but please don't anger the fox. Naruto's life is on the line; anything you say or do could jeopardize that. – Iruka.**

Sasuke crumpled the paper and looked at the unconscious boy. He was furious. Kyuubi was messing with not only _his_ head, but with everyone else's too. The fox was manipulating people. They didn't even know what the repercussions to Naruto's death would have on the fox, since the fox was sealed inside Naruto. It was possible the fox would die too if he killed Naruto!

And Kyuubi had him brought out here, so there was no chance of anyone stopping whatever Kyuubi had just done to him. No one was in the Forbidden Forest, so no one would ever hear. He suddenly felt no vengeance for Iruka's blood, or even the Hokage's blood. He just wanted to kill the fox. He spat more of that metallic taste from his mouth.

Sasuke realized if he had been Iruka and given the choice to sacrifice Naruto or a deserting shinobi, he would have chosen to save Naruto too…

Sasuke had thought there was something human in Kyuubi... but he was wrong. Kyuubi wasn't human at all. He was a demon, but Sasuke wouldn't forget that again.

* * *

**Thanks to: **zoey tamagachi, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (yeah...sorry for not telling you sooner. Your mom and I have tea daily? I mean, yes, we have tea daily. And biscuits.), Ichihime, sn1ck3rD00dl3 (when was Shika wrong? I don't remember writing him wrong...oh wait, he was, nevermind), DarkRavie, supersillee06 (Itachi wasn't "in on it"), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 39 after I posted chapter 40.

ANSWER: Kyuubi is a demon. He will get what he wants. I wanted to portray that. Have I succeeded?

_In the night was the dark, in the dark was the dream, in the dream was the child, and myself there unseen... with the review..._


	41. Blonde Girl

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 41: Blonde Girl

Sasuke opened his eyes to unfamiliar surroundings; a creaky bed underneath him, a leaky wood roof above him, drab old blankets covering him. He sat up and looked at himself and his surroundings. He was stripped to his boxers, which would definitely explain why he was chilled. The blankets were too thin to really keep anything at all warm, and water from the leaky roof was dripping steadily on the pillow. A stretch of linen bandaging crossed his chest and shoulder, where Kyuubi-possessed-Naruto had dug fangs into his shoulder.

Behind him was a recently cleaned window through which he could see it was pouring rain. An old dresser stood in the corner of the room Sasuke was in, and the closet was open and filled with very old clothes that were for both a man and a woman. The women's clothes appeared to be mostly red-orange ball-gowns while the men's clothes were mostly drab colors like black and brown and gray. They were covered in a light layer of dust as if someone hadn't touched them for years.

Sasuke caught sight of the clothes he'd been wearing the previous day—at least he assumed it had only been a day. They were sitting on an old rocking chair in the corner of the small bedroom. He pushed back the covers and went over to his clothes, picking them up and pulling them on. They were just shorts, socks, and a tee-shirt, but it was better having them on.

Again he glanced around the room, though this time he was trying to figure out where he was. The last thing he remembered was watching Naruto fall over as—presumably—Kyuubi stopped possessing Naruto. After that, he guessed he must have tried moving around too much with the strength juicer on him, because he probably didn't have the strength left to even stay awake.

He couldn't judge where he was by the interior of the room. The clothes in the closet didn't even look like something anyone he knew would wear. Glancing outside, he saw nothing but rain pelting down on an expansive valley. He was sure he had been in the Forbidden Forest last, so he had no idea how he was now in a house with lots of flat land outside the window.

He turned to the door of the bedroom. The door was made of old wood but the hinges on the door suggested recent repairs because they were shiny brass and didn't look aged like the rest of the place. He put his ear to the door, trying to hear if there was any noise outside it at all. There was nothing that he could hear, so he grabbed the knob and turned it, opening the door slowly.

The next room looked like the main room of a very small house. A small dining table took up much of the room, along with many general kitchen furnishings: a food cupboard, a stove, a sink, countertops, and a dish and utensil cupboard and drawers. An old highchair was shoved into the corner of the room; atop that was a box with old child toys stuffed inside. Another corner of the room had a bookshelf with various old books on it. A lit, three wing candelabra was on the table and the only source of light other than the three windows.

The strangest part about the place was that the stove was an old wood burning kitchenette, the sink was nothing more than a wood basin, and there appeared to be nothing modern or electric in sight. He continued his search for life or clues to his whereabouts. The next door over led to a dusty room bare of anything at all, though it looked by the patterns in the dust that someone had taken things out of the room that once were there.

The third room was a bathroom, and again there was nothing modern about it. The toilet was basically a hole in the ground with a box built around it, and a seat over it. It looked much like a port-e-potty, though less portable and more stationary. The sink was another basin on top of a narrow wooden stand. There was picture mirror hanging on the wall in front of the basin and a place where toothbrushes could hang. He went back out into the main room of the house. There were two final doors, both with new hinges on and judging by the square windows in both, they led out front and back of the house.

He glanced at the pouring rain through a window again, and then turned his eyes on the ceiling as liquid plopped on his shoulder. The roof had quite a few obvious leaks.

Where the hell was he, and how did he get wherever 'here' was? More to the point, where was Naruto? He was last with Naruto before he ended up wherever he was now, and said boy was nowhere to be found within the house.

With limited options, he had no choice but to make the decision to go outside and try figuring out where he was. If he was lucky, maybe he would find he was actually dreaming and that Naruto would be right outside the door.

He headed for what he assumed was the front door. Just as he was about to grasp the door handle, the door opened and a girl fell into the small home—and consequentially, into him. She had a wicker basket in her arms filled with groceries that ended up all over the floor. He barely managed to catch her fall, but no one caught his and so the two of them ended up in a questionable position in the doorway.

If he cared to be embarrassed, his face would have been flaming red at that time. However, he was too concerned about his whereabouts and the nature of his getting there to be embarrassed so he simply remained his elusive calm self.

The girl looked down at him with the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen on anyone except Naruto. Ordinarily he might have questioned if the girl—who happened to be a blond—was really Naruto, only this girl didn't have the whisker-scars on her cheeks and Naruto had once professed that he couldn't figure out how to get rid of any of his scars when he did his sexy transformation.

She really was a beauty—not that Sasuke was actually thinking that, of course—with those long, curved lashes and those plump pink lips. Her red-orange dress stuck to her rather curvaceous form like a second skin, leaving very little to Sasuke's imagination. Her hair was waist-length and done back in a French braid, but shorter pieces of it had managed to escape their confines to plaster to her forehead and cheeks. She was busty, but another point that Sasuke was sure said this blond wasn't Naruto was the fact that his blond friend always did his sexy transformation with a ridiculous bosom.

And there Sasuke was…lying underneath her. Oh, what a predicament…

"Oh, sorry!" she squeaked and moved to get off of him. He refused to admit that a small part of him groaned in protest. He was an Uchiha, for heaven's sake! Not to mention he was _supposed_ to be an avenger, and all that good stuff, and just because the whole 'avenge my dead clan against Itachi' wasn't likely to actually happen any time soon or even in the distant future (due to an unfortunate and accidental truce between the brothers) that did not mean he could just start thinking all the girls were cute or whatever guys thought girls were.

"Not a problem." He told her. "Where the hell am I?" he knew he sounded gruff, and maybe a little irritated, but he chalked that off on the account that he really was irritated… he might even extend that irritation to be 'annoyed' if he felt like it.

"Oh, uh, we're sort of in a little valley behind Konohagakure," she said.

"Oh?" he questioned. He got to his feet as the girl closed the front door and began helping her pick up her groceries and replacing them in the basket. "And where is Naruto?" he asked.

The girl blinked several times before turning those blue eyes on him. He glanced up at her in time to see humor flash through those eyes. "Naruto?" she asked. "Oh, he asked me to take care of you. He had to go to the library for something."

Sasuke frowned. "Why do I get the feeling you're laughing internally at me?" he asked her.

"Because, you dolt, I _am_ Naruto." The girl said. "And here I thought I was supposed to be the idiot in this relationship."

Sasuke did not believe it for a minute. Where were the whisker-scars? And the scar on the right hand where Naruto idiotically stabbed himself with a kunai? Naruto said he couldn't get rid of those scars when he transformed, and he even said he wouldn't _want_ to if he could!

Something in his expression must have showed his disbelief because the girl held up two fingers, muttered, "Release," and with a quick poof of chakra, Naruto was in front of Sasuke wearing a soaked red-orange sun dress and flip flops.

"Is this supposed to convince me?" Sasuke asked. "Anyone can impersonate Naruto's appearance."

'Naruto' sent a dead pan glare at Sasuke before launching at him. Sasuke was convinced already by the quick rate of attack, but Naruto knocked Sasuke onto his back again and pinned him before smacking his lips against his friend's. Even if Kyuubi hadn't recently kissed Sasuke using Naruto's mouth, Sasuke would've remembered the feel of Naruto's lips from when they kissed at age eleven.

He shoved his friend away and was rather disturbed to find he was disgusted…at himself and not Naruto. He found his best friend…attractive… Was he _gay_? "What the hell, Naruto?" He growled, "Of all the damn things you could've done to prove you are _you_, you decided to _kiss_ me?!"

"Damn it, I don't know!" Naruto shouted, wiping his lips on his arm. "It just, sort of happened!"

"Are you _gay?_" Sasuke demanded. "Stay the hell away from me! I don't want to catch whatever gay disease you have!"

"Fuck you, Sasuke, you were kissing me right back and you know it!" Naruto snapped.

"I was not!"

"You were too!"

"I was not!"

"Yeah, well fuck you then!" Naruto yelled. He slammed his basket of groceries on the table and went for the door.

Sasuke had to add a last jibe, "And on top of being gay, you're a cross dresser! Never would've guessed it!"

Naruto turned to Sasuke with full-blown fury in his blue eyes. "I AM NOT A CROSS DRESSER!" he yelled. Sasuke made a point to look at that very _adorable_ sun dress the other boy was wearing. "IT'S CALLED A DISGUISE, SASUKE!"

Sasuke got up and advanced on his friend. "And why the hell would you need to disguise yourself in the middle of nowhere?! So you can molest me without me realizing it's you!? You're not turning me gay, so fuck you! Get your kicks elsewhere!"

"I wasn't trying to!" Naruto snapped. "I went to get groceries in Konoha, and if you didn't realize it, it's SATURDAY! I didn't want to get caught by Kakashi and have to go read shit ass books about," he shoved Sasuke, "gay sex!" The shove sent Sasuke slightly off balance, but he caught himself on the heavy wooden table.

Sasuke pushed himself off the table and again advanced on his friend, shoving Naruto back into the door for shoving him first. "You know, I bet you wish you were born a girl, don't you?" Sasuke sneered. "That's why you made up that stupid ass jutsu to begin with!"

"Don't you fucking call it stupid!" Naruto snapped.

"What, now I'm supposed to lie to you?" Sasuke asked. "What the hell happened to being honest? It's what you wanted, isn't it?"

Naruto fisted his hands in Sasuke's shirt and pushed Sasuke backward until he was off balance and all he could do was walk backward to keep himself upright. He backed up into the heavy table and Naruto shoved him on its surface. "I wanted you to be honest with me to begin with," he snarled, "but instead, you did what you're best at and barreled it all in! That's what hurt the most, you shit head! Instead of trusting me, you ran away from me!"

Sasuke used his knees to shove his friend away. The boy went straight through it and skidded through soggy grass, creating a torn track that was nothing more than mud. Sasuke walked out of the house, clenching his fists and already ready for a battle to the death. This time, no one was around to stop them by the look of the barren valley.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm sorry!" Sasuke yelled over the sound of the pouring rain.

Naruto sat up, a glop of muddy grass falling off his shoulder and creating a brown trail down his bare arms. He glared at Sasuke, only this time his right eye was a bright crimson color while his left eye stayed its natural bright blue. "Sorry doesn't change the fact that you left me twice! How can I trust you?" He got to his feet and kicked the flip flops off. They would only hinder his movements. "How can I ever be sure you aren't just here to spy on us for that shit Orochimaru?! NOT NOW KYUUBI!"

Sasuke hadn't heard Kyuubi speak… where was the fox? "I told you why I came back!"

"Fuck you, Sasuke," Naruto spat. "I heard what you said, but you know what? I think that's a load of cock! What the fuck did Kyuubi want us in the Forbidden Forest for? He won't tell me! Will you?? Or will you hold your tongue on this too?" He breathed heavily before slogging through the mud toward Sasuke.

When they were face to face, and Sasuke still couldn't find it in him to tell his friend that Kyuubi had used his friend's body to dig fangs into his shoulder, Naruto bared his teeth.

Those fangs were still there… "You want to fucking explain why I look more and more like the damn monster? You want to tell me what happened to me, and why you've practically got a big chunk out of your shoulder? I can't show my face in Konoha like this! I'm a damn monster! I've been eating RATS! WHOLE DAMN RATS!"

Sasuke couldn't take Naruto's self-pity any longer. He punched his friend without any warning and his friend took another dive into the mud. Sasuke slogged toward Naruto, kneeling beside the boy. He knew what Kyuubi had said now; Naruto wouldn't know if Sasuke didn't tell him.

He placed his hands on either side of Naruto's head, half burying them in muddy ground. "If you want to know," Sasuke told him, able to speak quieter since they were so close. Naruto had his eyes squinted shut, but his scowl proved he was keeping back tears. Naruto was a pretty emotional type of guy and Sasuke knew this. "Kyuubi told Iruka that he would kill you if we weren't taken into the forest. I once made a deal with Kyuubi because I wanted information. Kyuubi wanted to collect his half of the payment."

Naruto refused to open his eyes. Sasuke lifted one hand out of the mud to place it on Naruto's forehead. "Naruto, open your eyes," he said quietly. "Look at me. _Please_." He sent his chakra into the curse mark that now belonged to Kyuubi. He could feel it releasing its first level on his body. He pushed more and more chakra into it, releasing level after level of the mark; it didn't matter who the mark belonged to, he still knew how to activate it. He couldn't feel the pain as it happened, but he heard the tearing of cloth, and he saw his hand and arm changing.

He let Naruto go before he crushed the boy and backed up. Those awkward eyes were looking at Sasuke in horror now as it happened. He pushed enough chakra into the seal to get the final level released. He simply watched his best friend for a moment, and then Naruto climbed out of the mud. Naruto's hands were shaking, and his lip trembled. "Wh…what did Orochimaru…do to you?" He finally asked.

Sasuke let go of the change and within a few moments he was back to his normal self. He couldn't talk in that form. "Orochimaru placed a curse mark on me. It's like a tracking beacon. He can know exactly where I am, because he can see through my eyes and hear my thoughts whenever he wanted." Sasuke sighed. He was kneeling—quite naked—in mud. "Kyuubi possessed your body to mark me just like Orochimaru did, only he got rid of Orochimaru's mark."

Naruto barreled Sasuke over for the millionth time that day. This time, Sasuke's face turned beet red; his best friend was straddling him, hugging him, and he was naked because the curse transformation ripped off his clothes with no exceptions. And Naruto was very emotional and crying—wouldn't want to forget to mention that part.

"I'll take the demon fangs if it means you stay home." Naruto exclaimed.

"Fuck, get off!" Sasuke demanded. "I'll stay home if you quit being a gay ass!"

"I'm not gay," Naruto insisted, and they were back to the first argument. Naruto punched Sasuke for the offense.

Sasuke flipped the position around, glaring at his friend. "Oh, and I suppose its not gay to straddle a gay guy?" he demanded, then realized how he'd worded his statement. He swore he invented a new red.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Oh my god… you're gay?"

"I am not gay!" Sasuke amended. "Damn it! It was a mix up!"

"Oh, I'm sure," Naruto said, raising an eyebrow. Sasuke wondered how their arguments could transition so quickly, but figured now wasn't the best time to be thinking of anything else than saving his straight reputation.

"You're gay, and a cross dresser," Sasuke said. "So fuck off."

Naruto rolled them again (why were they rolling around in the mud anyway?) and took over the top. "What if I told you I was questioning my sexuality? I'm not sure, but I might be bi-sexual."

Sasuke glared at his friend. "You're not practicing on me."

"But you like it," Naruto pointed out. "And you like me. Because you kiss me back."

"I wasn't kissing you!" Sasuke huffed. "Get off, before I kick you off. Why are we even having this discussion?"

"Because… you wanted to know why I kissed you to prove myself?" Naruto suggested.

"I thought we were yelling about how you can't trust me," Sasuke was really getting frustrated.

Naruto shrugged. "And now we're lying in the mud, and you're naked. It works out well for me, since I don't wear girl underwear."

Sasuke's eyes went wide. "You mean you're not wearing any fucking underwear?!"

"Boxers would be a dead giveaway with a skirt this short." Naruto told his friend, grinning.

"Get the fuck off."

"Keep saying 'fuck' and you might give me ideas."

"We're not discussing this!" Sasuke snapped. "We're fifteen!"

"Fifteen year olds have been known to experiment," Naruto added.

"We aren't even having this conversation!"

"Funny, that," Naruto said. "If you _really_ didn't want to talk about this, you could've easily escaped me at any time. Thus gives me the inclination that you really do want to talk about this."

"Look, I'm straight, okay?"

"And I'm a cross dresser," Naruto laughed. He clapped his hands together. "Sexy no Jutsu!" he said and there was a girl straddling Sasuke. Before he could do anything, that girl was pressing her lips to Sasuke's. The blue and the crimson eye were a dead giveaway that she was Naruto… why was that eye crimson? Was Kyuubi influencing Naruto's actions at all?

And Naruto pulled back victorious. "Ha! You totally made out with me!"

"Why is that something to be proud of?!" Sasuke asked, shoving his friend away and spitting several times rather childishly. "And no I didn't! Someone kisses you, it's like…a natural reaction to kiss back or something…Yuck, Naruto in mouth…ew…"

Naruto cackled. "I don't think I'm gay!" he said. "It was just the same as when I made out with Sakura! I didn't feel anything special! So, I'm straight! Woohoo!" He gave Sasuke a thumbs up. "More than I can say for you, though, gay boy!"

Sasuke then proceeded to pummel his best friend stupid.

* * *

**Thanks to: **kurkagcrossoverluv (As many possibly disgruntled readers will tell you, I'm a tease and won't tell you the TRUE pairings... but really it's not yaoi), Dark Inu Fan (Kyuubi is simply himself... He and Shukaku don't get along well), Supersillee06 (I know, Itachi so would've been in on that), kazugo (hehehe, more SasukeNaruto for you to crave. But honestly, it's not going to end up SN), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Nah, no hablo espanol? Donde estas me pantalones? Er, that's supposed to be 'where are my pants'... I think I butchered it good and solid), Ichihime (maybe), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (I think Naruto and Sasuke have a thaaang for each other...), zoey tamagachi (tell your bro that no, no rape...yet), Riley Lily Nikita (disturbing! oh, no! Did this one disturb you too?!), Dark Ravie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 40 after I posted chapter 41. 

ANSWER: I love this story. You want it to be just a simple pairing, and I totally botch your expectations by making them gay all over the place! And muddy! Check out my new Naruto fanfictions, and look in my profile for a link to a Naruto story I'm writing together with a friend of mine!

_I'm betting shadows of you formed yesterday...while you reviewed._


	42. Zodiac Agreements

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 42: Zodiac Agreements

_Kyo's Journey Log _

_September 17. There's this thing coming up. It's kind of exciting. All the Yobidasu will be coming in from all over the world. We'll have a Hunt expedition, and I'm excited because I'll get to see what Huro's creatures look like. _

_September 28. That was anti-climactic. Even with Huro and all the rest of the Yobidasu at the shrine, there weren't more than a hundred people. And unfortunately the cows broke out of the pasture so we had to chase them and the sheep all over Sound country on the day of the Hunt. _

_December 30. It's been three years since my last entry date. I've been away from home for such a long time; I can't remember what Konoha looks like anymore. But I've worked my ass off to get control of my Maryoku. And since then, I also managed to work out this awesome signature move I like to call 'Rasengan'. It's definitely a Summon Exterminator move. Tomorrow they're sending me back to Konoha. Mom will be surprised to see me. _

xXx

"What are you reading?" Sasuke asked his friend as they lay on the only bed in the small hut. Saturday had come and gone and with the exception of Naruto's grocery trip to Konoha, neither one seemed to have plans on returning to the city. Sasuke was content to stay in the little valley despite the cold.

Now it was Sunday morning and Sasuke had his arm wrapped around his friend's waist to keep the girl from falling off the bed. Yes, Naruto was in his female form again, but he was at least decent enough to wear his boxers (which he had to roll up at the waist) and one of the gray shirts from the closet to keep Sasuke sane. It was also probably the only way Sasuke would make an effort to keep Naruto from falling out of the small bed. Probably…

Naruto seemed taken to his female form for reasons Sasuke was unaware of. He'd asked why the day before while they ate dinner but only received a crap response of 'there are so many _cute_ dresses here' but that didn't explain why Naruto would remain in the form while he was sleeping. Sasuke figured the boy was simply lying so he didn't have to give out the real reason, which most likely meant that Naruto thought the real reason was more embarrassing than the given excuse (coincidentally said given excuse labeled Naruto as a cross dresser even more in Sasuke's mind).

Sasuke was concerned more by the fact that he and Naruto were technically sleeping together and it didn't faze Sasuke at all. Was Sasuke really gay? He wasn't exactly bothered by the thought of sleeping beside female _or_ male Naruto. Sure, he did want his space but the bed was just a regular sized one, not queen or king sized so he didn't have all that much space to shove Naruto toward. At least the bed was bigger than the one in Naruto's old apartment, he thought.

Naruto turned away from the plain leather bound book he was reading to look up at Sasuke with those big, feminine red-and-blue eyes of his. That right eye was so strange; it was crimson and instead of a round pupil like normal humans, it was sort of animalistic. The pupil was a slit instead. Problem 28 (maybe he should start writing down all these problems to keep track of what number he was really on, because he was sure he was only on three last time): he kept thinking female Naruto was attractive. Was he attracted to Naruto himself, or the female part?

Granted, Naruto _did_ create the jutsu to be attractive. He'd simply developed it over the last three years to be completely realistic so suspicions wouldn't be raised if he ever needed to use it in a pinch (or so Naruto said). Sasuke doubted there would ever be a time when Naruto could validate using the jutsu. The idea was ludicrous even if it did make a fairly decent disguise. Naruto's voice was a melodious feminine pitch, and he'd quite obviously learned how to act feminine to top that off. He could even do his long hair in a variety of styles and (he claimed) could apply make up and knew everything there was to know about female functioning and bathroom needs.

"Just a journey log," Naruto said. The girl shifted beneath the covers, seeming to further attach herself to Sasuke's side for the warmth Sasuke was providing. She cuddled into the crook of Sasuke's arm and turned the page, then held the book with one hand and stuck her free hand under the covers to adjust Sasuke's hand on her waist.

Sasuke supposed ordinary people would be embarrassed that their best friend was cuddled up to them or had their arm wrapped around them like they were intimate, but then again nothing about Sasuke and Naruto's relationship was normal. Naruto was a pervert (even if he probably didn't realize it yet – must have been all that time he spent with Kakashi and Jiraiya rubbed off) and Sasuke was by all general associations a completely anti-social type of guy who (due to an orange-loving pervert's influence) was socializing on a nearly regular basis.

Of course, by all accounts it wouldn't be the first time for the two of them. They'd first slept together at least ten years prior to now. This was just the first time Sasuke ever slept with female Naruto. And yes, it was just 'sleeping'. They had not yet partaken in any evening activities... did he just think 'yet'? Oh dear heavens...

"You're reading a journey log?" Sasuke asked, shifting his eyes to the pages filled with scribble-looking handwriting. "Who would give you their journey log? Aren't those generally private?"

"It was my dad's," Naruto breathed and ran a long finger down the spine of the book. Sasuke looked at the ratty old book and then at the top of the blond head on his shoulder. "Do you know how many times people have changed the subject if I ask about who my parents were?" She closed the book and reached over the side of the bed to set it on the floor. "I can't even count them anymore. I guess at one point I simply gave up searching and continued on with my life."

"There was probably a reason," Sasuke told his friend softly. He knew the subject was a delicate one from experience, and in fact the last time they had talked about 'family' Sasuke had accused Naruto of not understanding what it was like to have family and lose them. That had been at the Valley of Ends. He'd always regretted saying that to Naruto. What would be worse: knowing what your life would've been like, or wondering what it could've been like? It was all a matter of perspective, he supposed. And by the sounds of things, Naruto was starting to get a small hint of what it could've been like.

Naruto snorted, shifting herself so she could sit up on her elbow and look at Sasuke. "Give me one reason," she demanded.

Sasuke already had one ready. "For all you know your parents could have been nobody."

Naruto ran her fingers through her long hair and chuckled darkly. "That's what I thought once. Maybe my parents didn't make that big of an impression to be acknowledged or something so no one knew them." She brushed the blond strands behind her ear and continued, "But then explain why the Hokage himself felt the need to make sure I was in foster care? What's one little boy anyway?"

"Probably because Kyuubi was sealed in you," Sasuke said logically.

"And what do you think everyone would do if I did find out who my parents were?" Naruto's voice was a bit harsh as she spat that out. "What would happen if I, the host of Kyuubi, found out my dad was the fourth? What difference would it make if someone just told me?"

Sasuke reached over and placed a hand on Naruto's head, shoving it into the mattress. "Calm down." He told Naruto. "So what if your dad was the fourth? I've known since we were ten. Big deal."

Naruto's eyes flashed with anger. "You've known, and you never said anything?" she cried, picking her head back up. "Why wouldn't you tell me?!"

"I could never be sure," Sasuke said, "but I simply guessed. You and the fourth's stone head are incredibly similar. And you know what else I think? Getting angry about it now isn't going to make a difference."

Naruto let out a miserable groan and lay her head back on Sasuke's shoulder, cuddling up against him again. For the millionth time, her leg ended up between his two, so Sasuke shifted his leg and used his kneecap to lift the leg out of the precocious position. "I know," she admitted, "but I just want to scream at people for not saying anything. Especially Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei was the fourth's pupil, so he had to have known!"

"So maybe there's a valid reason," Sasuke offered again.

"Maybe it's 'cause of my mom," Naruto muttered into Sasuke's chest. Again, Sasuke wondered why it didn't bother him that his best friend was cuddled up against him.

"What does your mom have to do with anything?"

"She was Kyuubi's Summoner I think… I think that makes a big deal, but… I don't know why yet. All I really know so far is my parents' names, that my dad's dream was to be a Summoner but he couldn't be one, and that demons think my dad's a hero and my mom's a monster."

Sasuke sighed. He knew more about Naruto's parents than Naruto did then… Did he want to be the one who dropped the ball in Naruto's lap and tell Naruto what he knew? No, not yet; he would keep silent for now. Despite Naruto's complaints, his friend seemed to want to find out on his own.

Several moments of silence passed and Naruto finally started to sit up and push back the thin blanket. "I gotta fix the front door today," she told him. Sasuke wished his friend would say why he really was in female form still… it was beyond the point of a disguise now because it was just the two of them. Was his friend really questioning his sexuality or trying to be a transvestite? (Naruto would probably make a good transvestite of course… not that Sasuke was contemplating that).

"The door is in pieces," Sasuke said, stating the obvious. "And no one lives here anyway, so why bother?"

"Well," Naruto blushed deep to the roots of her hair, "this is my parents' home. I'm trying to fix it up, even if I can't live here."

Sasuke sat up as well, a look of confusion on his face. "Why can't you live here?" he asked. "If it was your parents, it would've gone to you on their deaths."

Naruto shook her head. "Not technically. If I don't have the deed to prove it belonged to my parents before they died, I can't stake a claim. I searched this house up and down for a deed but never found it, so—"

Sasuke gave his friend a rather dry look, "You're wasting your money fixing it up then. The place has no heat—"

"It has a wood burning stove!" his friend interrupted.

Sasuke continued as if he'd not heard Naruto, "No running water—"

"There's a well out back!"

"No electricity—"

"I bought a lot of candles!"

"It looks like something out of a really crappy fairy tale where an old hag witch lives waiting to boil children and turn them into lasagna." Sasuke said.

"There's a nice little orchard," Naruto attempted.

"Dessert for after the lasagna," Sasuke said, waving it off.

Naruto opened her mouth to try again but then slouched her shoulders. "I know… it's useless. But lately, I can't help but wonder why I'm still alive… People tried to assassinate Gaara when he was little because of Shukaku. I only got whipped."

"I recall several occasions where you were whipped enough to be hospitalized," Sasuke didn't want to talk about it. Naruto was still feeling upset about the whole 'new demonic features' thing. "Just go do whatever it is you did to get rid of your scars and make the eye look normal blue. And don't let Kyuubi possess you, because I'd bet anything that's the reason why you're starting to change."

Naruto looked absolutely miserable as she slid out of the bed and walked to the bedroom door.

Sasuke added, "And stop fucking moping. It's beginning to grate on my nerves."

Naruto looked back at him, startled for a moment before her face lifted and she smirked, winking at him. "You know, I love your mind. It comes up with all sorts of fun activities to partake in."

Sasuke threw the ratty pillow at his friend, scowling. "You really _are_ a pervert!" His friend ducked out of the room, melodious feminine laughter ringing from the bathroom. "Quit hanging around the toad hermit! He's a bad influence!"

xXx

Naruto had decided to wear his mom's dress into Konoha again. He picked out one that he felt suited his female form rather well and dressed in the red-orange material, then pulled on his combat sandals and strapped on his nin-gear. He grinned at himself in the bathroom mirror. He couldn't get the red eye and fangs to go away in his natural form, but Sasuke's advice had made a lot of sense.

He'd used the same method he'd done to get rid of the whisker-scars so that his female form went back to being perfect. When he'd decided to get rid of his scars on the female form, he'd always been confused because the whisker-scars wouldn't go away the same way as all his other scars. He'd had to keep trying to develop a method to get rid of them. Eventually he managed, so that was what he did to get his eye to appear as though it were blue and his canines to be normal again.

More reason to stay in his female form… he could answer questions a lot easier (or make up answers at least) for why he was in female form than why he had demon fangs and a demon eye. It wasn't the only reason, but the other one was too mushy to even think about. He, Naruto Uzumaki, wasn't having an identity crisis! He was the greatest shinobi ever! ...But what kind of great was he? Bad men could be considered great as well as good men... How would he ever amount to anything without a mother or father? He tried to tell himself to get over it; he'd gone so long without them, or needing them, but now that he was getting a tiny feel for what his father had been like, he was starved for information on his mother. What kind of woman had she been? Did she love her son before she died?

But none of that mattered, because Naruto Uzumaki was _not_ questioning any of that! He looked at himself in the mirror, admiring himself for a moment with a smile. His mother's dress looked really good on his female form.

However, Monday had come and Sasuke and Naruto couldn't laze about the valley anymore. Naruto could already sense Kakashi's coming irritation. Naruto was somewhat nervous about seeing Iruka again. He loved the older man who he'd come to look up to, but if he'd been given a choice he wouldn't have chosen his own life over Sasuke's. He would've told Kyuubi to go to hell. He didn't want to yell at Iruka, so he hoped he'd keep a sane head when they saw each other again.

Sasuke banged on the bathroom door. "Let's go, girly," he called. He'd taken to calling Naruto that very quickly; it was his little way of accusing Naruto of being a cross dresser. Was it really cross dressing if Naruto was literally a girl? He did wonder…

Bang bang bang… Sasuke was getting impatient.

"Okay, okay!" Naruto called. "I'll forgo the make up today." He laughed and threw the door open to find a glaring best friend. Sasuke was wearing a pair of Naruto's dad's clothes. They fit the other guy well enough except Sasuke was leaner than Naruto's dad had been.

"'You'll forgo the make up'?" Sasuke scowled. "You ever wonder what people are going to think about you for acting the way you are?"

Naruto cackled and threw his arms around Sasuke's neck, planting a chaste kiss on his friend's cheek. "You know what? I don't have to _care_ what they think!" He skipped away from the blow aimed at his head, slipped around Sasuke, and headed for the hole that was once a front door. He heard a random 'gay cross dresser' comment from Sasuke but ignored it. "I've also changed my mind about rigging Sakura's house. She's pink already, so I'm going to make her suffer more than color phobia."

"More like you're worried your pranks will affect her family," Sasuke said, following behind Naruto. It was rather early in the morning: six AM. Naruto wanted to get into town without making a big scene about where he'd appeared from. So far the only people who knew Naruto knew about the valley was Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, and Sasuke. He wanted to keep it that way.

"That too," Naruto admitted. "Her mom kind of scares me."

"It's actually her aunt," Sasuke said offhandedly, "and she scares the dead."

"Her aunt?" Naruto crossed his arms behind his head. "I thought it was her mom."

"You thought wrong," Sasuke said. "Her mom and dad died when Sakura was a little girl, so her mom's twin sister took her in. Didn't you ever listen to Sakura's ranting?"

"Not really." Naruto admitted. "But then again, I was always busy glaring at you; thought processes are hard when I'm glaring."

"Thought processes are hard for you period." Sasuke managed to slip the insult in without much effort. Naruto glared at Sasuke. Sasuke held up his hands in defense, "Well, you _are_ a blond."

Naruto snorted and flipped his long hair over his shoulder. "I don't have to take this sort of treatment," he said. He picked up his pace, which Sasuke's longer legs matched easily. 'Perfect Female Naruto' was two inches shorter than Sasuke (and two inches shorter than male Naruto) and that two inches made a difference. Several moments of silence passed and they began to climb up the path that would lead up the mountain and down again behind the Hokage tower.

"Just curious, but you _are_ wearing underwear, right?" Sasuke asked abruptly. "You _were_ just joking about that, right?"

Naruto laughed. "I don't wear girl underwear; I wasn't joking. You're lucky I'm wearing clothes _at all_ if it bothers you that much."

Sasuke looked a bit disturbed. "I wish I could say I don't know you and get away with it."

"Aww," Naruto winked at Sasuke and wrapped his arms around Sasuke's like any other fan girl. "You don't mean that for poor little me… What you want to say is—"

"Finish that sentence and you're dead," Sasuke growled. "When did you get to be so perverted, and why are you only recently acting like it?"

Naruto shrugged. "You're right; I spent too much time with perverts as teachers." Well, that did explain it but it didn't excuse it… "You coming to lunch under the bridge?"

"Provided I am not murdered for successfully hiding from _Kakashi_ this weekend? Sure."

"Don't worry, I've got everything under control for the 'gay' thing."

"Should I be forewarned?"

"You should relax and let li'l ol' me take care of everything," Naruto let go of Sasuke's arm and jumped onto his back, nearly causing the two to tumble back down the mountain (that would've been painful…). "Piggy back!" he chanted. He could _feel_ Sasuke's irritation and laughed.

xXx

Naruto grinned as he approached the academy district bridge. Sasuke was on his way to Stienem's for the morning, and Naruto was very early to the bridge. He didn't have to be there until nine, but it wasn't even eight o'clock yet. He needed a little time to prepare himself, however. Sakura hadn't yet seen his finished female form—a plus for him. No one would ever recognize him. Proof since Sasuke hadn't...

xXx

Sasuke could swear he felt eyes watching him as he made his way to district S and his morning job. He was right; someone was watching him. They dragged him down a seldom used alley and shoved him roughly against the building wall.

He found himself faced with Kakashi's imposter; he glared at Itachi. "What do you want?" he hissed. Just because he wasn't going to outright attack his brother didn't mean he was going to be completely civil. He still burned with hatred toward his brother, a hatred that had been cultivated by his Elder Council guardian over the years.

"Where were you, Sasuke?" Itachi growled, the one black eye burning with anger and irritation.

"I was busy," Sasuke snapped, already having trouble keeping his voice down. "What does it matter where I was?"

"It matters," Itachi said. "Where. Were. You?"

Sasuke shoved his brother's hand away from his shoulder. "I was with my apparent lover," he said coldly. "We had hot, wild sex no less than ten times this weekend," Sasuke's face felt very warm, though he couldn't be sure if it was from anger or embarrassment at his own perverted words, "_and we didn't need books to know how!_"

Itachi's black eye went wide and Sasuke knew he'd startled his brother. He didn't know what he'd said startled Itachi more, though. The yelling, or the perverted comment. Sasuke wanted to accentuate his anger with a blow or two, but he knew his brother was still too powerful for him to take on and even have a hope of overcoming.

"I can even describe each curve she has and every moan she makes, too. Interested?!"

"…She?"

"Yes! NOW CAN I GO TO WORK!?" Sasuke clenched his fists and took off toward the street again; a few passersby were looking in the alley to see what was happening. As an after thought (he was feeling vicious at the moment) he turned his head to look at his brother out of his peripheral vision. "If you want the gay one, talk to Sakura! She's great at manipulating people. She did it to you; never know what secrets you might find in that pretty little head of hers." He continued to work and practically slammed into the office.

Mariemi looked up, surprised at his temperamental entrance. "Sasuke-kun! Um, how was your weekend?"

"It was fine! Just peachy! I enjoyed it very much and accomplished a great deal! Shut up and stop asking questions about it already!"

"Er, I need to go deliver some paperwork to the second floor…" she left without papers and went upstairs.

Mariemi was mysteriously gone most of the morning after that, but at least he got a great deal of his jobs done without her constantly interrupting to say weird things. He was so pissed off, it took him a while to calm down and realize he shouldn't have taken it out on Mariemi.

xXx

At nine AM, Sakura approached the bridge, brooding on the whereabouts of her teammates. She hadn't seen them all weekend and to top that off she was simply dying to know where their new apartment was. She sighed and looked up, figuring Naruto would be at the bridge. He wasn't, but there was a pretty kunoichi (at least, Sakura figured it was a kunoichi from the combat boots and nin-gear) leaning rather precariously over the rail of the bridge.

Honestly if the girl leaned much farther, she'd fall off the bridge! Sakura, being a mostly kind girl, decided to go warn the other girl to be careful. She walked up behind the pretty blond and said, "Be careful!"

She didn't expect the girl to be startled enough to fall off, straight into the shallow water below. "Eek!" the girl cried, "I'm all wet!"

Sakura hurried down the path she and her friends usually traveled to get down there and offered to help the soggy girl out. "Are you okay?" Sakura asked. "I'm a medic-nin, I can help!"

"Sorry!" the girl apologized, blushing profusely, "I-I just, I lost my forehead protector! I thought it might have been around here, so I was trying to find a way down!"

"Come out of the water. Let me have a look at your head, and then I'll help you find your forehead protector." Sakura offered. She held her hand out and the girl took it, slipping her wet but warm hand in Sakura's. Sakura tugged the girl to her feet and found the pretty girl was taller than her…damn… Was Hinata the only girl shorter than Sakura?

"Thanks," said the girl. She began wringing out her dress, though the short thing stuck to most of her body. She was definitely busty, and definitely not wearing bandages on her bosom. Her breasts were bigger than Sakura's. Damn!

"How did you lose your forehead protector?" Sakura asked as the girl sat down on the ground with her legs folded beneath her.

"Oh, I was in such a hurry this morning I guess I didn't secure it tight enough," the girl said as Sakura brought up her chakra and ran it along the girl's skull. "I didn't even have time to put on my make up! But I guess that's what I get for waking up late."

"Looks like that's not the only thing you forgot," Sakura said, pointing to the girl's bosom. "You forgot a breast band." The girl flushed slightly. "Don't worry, I've got something that will help even if it's not the ideal thing. I always carry an extra roll or two of heavy duty gauze; you can just bind your breasts the old fashioned way."

The girl looked grateful. "You're the greatest!" she said. "How's my head?"

"Seems okay," Sakura told the girl and dug the gauze from her nin-kit. She handed the two rolls over.

The girl looked around her and then darted for the cover of several large bushes down the bank. She managed to easily disappear into them. While the girl was attempting to bind her breasts, Sakura looked around for the forehead protector. Several very long minutes passed and Sakura found the forehead protector. She picked it up and walked over to the bushes.

"How are you doing in there?" Sakura asked quietly.

"I… I'm not!" the girl sobbed. "I can't get this damn thing to tie!"

Sakura hesitated for a moment and then felt pity on the girl. She knew what it was like to have a bad morning. Guys didn't know _how_ easy they had it. "I'm coming to help you," she announced and bent the branches of the bushes so she could make her way to the small hidden area. The poor girl was indeed struggling. She knelt on the ground with her dress off her shoulders and resting around her waist, though thankfully not showing indecent flesh. She'd ended up with the loose ends of the bandages behind her. Sakura approached her and took hold of the loose ends. She skillfully tied a knot…and the gauze broke… The linen loosened and then had to be rewrapped.

Again, the knot broke… the free gauze end space was already running out; and it looked as if the girl had used both rolls. They had to rewrap it a third time. Sakura glanced close at the linen and was extra careful tying it. Finally it stayed. Then much to Sakura's surprise, the girl turned around and threw herself at Sakura. Sakura found herself pinned to the ground, very surprised; she was being kissed by a girl.

Sure, she'd kissed before—Naruto had surprisingly been the best kiss she'd had, and the worst was actually in prison though thankfully the guards saved Sakura before the shower-kisser could violate her further.

This kiss was definitely like kissing Naruto; eager, yet somehow patient at the same time. She hated herself for kissing the girl back, but when she blinked her eyes she swore she saw Naruto instead of the girl. Then her eyes were open again and it was the girl. But the girl showed no sign of letting up, and her body wouldn't fight it. Why not?

So she simply gave in and closed her eyes, letting her mind imagine her blond haired, blue eyed _male_ friend. She would just have to yell at the girl when it was over. She was being straddled, she knew; the girl's tongue traced her lower lip and then…

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU KIDS?!" An irate Kakashi was standing over the two of them. The girl started stammering things like 'sorry' and 'didn't mean to let anyone find out', but Sakura didn't register it. She was sort of dazed. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?!"

The girl pulled her dress back up and took off running. Sakura grabbed the forehead protector and called out to the girl, "You forgot this!" However, to her horror, she found the thing she was holding wasn't a forehead protector at all… it was a pair of underwear. The next thing Sakura knew, she was dragged to her feet. She shook off her daze and tried to stammer excuses but Kakashi wouldn't listen to her. He started dragging her to the library.

"I should've known immediately!" Kakashi ranted, "There's no way in hell Sasuke could be gay! Moral support, my ass you would've gone for moral support!"

xXx

Gaara was by the general order of things a very patient man (actually, he was still a boy but people didn't dare call him that to his face). He liked cleanliness and order and he liked when his days ran as smoothly as possible. He liked when things didn't _mysteriously_ disappear, and he liked when things didn't _accidentally_ blow up or start on fire. He liked when everyone around him did the job they were supposed to do to keep Sunagakure running as efficiently and safely as possible.

Basically… Kagome did _not_ fit into his equation of life.

He swiveled his office chair, looking out at the city he'd grown up in. His childhood wasn't exactly a pleasant one, and mostly he hated the people he met, but he was still there to protect them. That was his job; his duty to them as Kazekage.

From his spot, he could see his house. Therein lay four black book criminals, and three of them were in the top ten considered most dangerous! And he, Kazekage, was harboring them. It wasn't exactly like he could arrest them and get away with it though… Kagome would probably smack him hard enough he'd never get up again if he did, and Temari and Kankuro would beat the shit out of him for screwing things up with Kagome (again).

He sighed; since the three Akatsuki members came to Sunagakure, everything started going downhill. Bodies were disappearing from the morgue, and sixteen palm trees, three abandoned homes, seven empty mule carts, and nine of the most expensive vases from Gaara's home had been either burned to the ground or blown up with hefty explosives. Gaara mentally accused Deidara and Sasori for those new renovations to the city… and his home.

Kisame was causing a riot just by walking around, too. Gaara never would've thought one man could strike more fear into the hearts of Suna citizens more than he himself did. Oh how wrong he was! Kisame managed to make everyone so nervous that nothing was getting done. People closed up shop and hid under their beds because Kisame was walking down the street.

Getting up, Gaara walked over to the window. He could hear the shuffling feet of various council members as they joined him in the Kazekage office. "Kazekage-sama," one said immediately before anyone even could get settled, "something must be done about them. They can't stay here."

Gaara turned toward the rest of the room. "And what do you suggest we do, Felwin?" Gaara asked of the older woman. She was going into her sixties now, and had made Elder Council around the time Gaara was named Kazekage. Aside from that, she was something of a cousin to Gaara and his siblings; some distant ancestor had deemed it worthy to have multiple children, thus Gaara Felwin and Elder Councilwoman Lily Felwin were related…

He didn't like her much (not surprising since he rarely liked anyone); she used to do informant work in Konoha when she was young but had gotten caught in the act. Her once-blond hair was white now, but her stern sky-blue eyes were still sparkling with as much vigor as when Gaara first met the woman (a year ago…he couldn't be expected to keep an eye on his distant cousins!).

No one offered a suggestion, and the last into the room was his siblings and old teacher, Baki. Gaara glanced at them all. Both Clan Council and Elder Council were present. He repeated his question, "What do you, _any_ of you, suggest we do about the present situation? We _can not_ afford to turn Kagome away."

"You mean _you_ can not afford it," growled Lily boldly. Gaara felt like taking his chakra stuffed sand and strangling Lily but refrained. Shukaku urged him to do it, but he ignored the raccoon.

"_No_, I mean _exactly_ what I said!" Gaara snapped. His patience was running very dry already and not much at all had even been said. He chalked it up to irritation at what the three Akatsuki members recent actions seemed to be. "Without Kagome, I have no medication to sleep. Without that medication, Shukaku can and will take over my body and when that happens I won't always be able to stop the demon. And if we turn away the Akatsuki members, we turn Kagome away. Are any of you willing to risk that?"

"Seems we're screwed either way," Kankuro said lightly, hooking his fingers in his sash. "Those three are _insane_, Gaara. Felwin is right; something must be done, but the problem is _what_ can we do? If we don't do something, someone might get hurt."

Gaara pursed his lips. They did have to take care of this situation, but they also had many other things to deal with that simply could not wait much longer. The arrangements for the upcoming Chunin exams had to be finished by the end of the day and sent to those hidden cities that would be participating, and the Zodiac agreement needed to be resolved so that the Zodiac-nin could also take part in the Chunin exams.

"Not to mention she's the Dog Princess," Temari added. Gaara glared at his sister; Kagome didn't like advertising. It might help in this particular case but he was attempting to keep the 'Summoner' thing out of the picture. "I'm sorry, Gaara, but it's true." She looked over at Lily and then glanced at everyone else, stepping forward so she could see all of them and they could see her properly.

"What the hell does that make a difference?" one of the Clan Council demanded. Most of the Clan Council didn't have a problem with Kagome or the others presence; it was the destruction to their districts that was getting to them. Repairs weren't cheap, especially when so much of their building materials had to be imported and merchant costs were enough to put people in poverty.

Temari explained, "Have you ever seen a dog that was possessive of its belongings, such as toys or humans it thinks belong to it?" Nods were her answer. "And have you ever seen that dog feel threatened because of you trying to take the bone away or because it thinks you're too close to its master?" She didn't even get a nod on that. "Well, Kagome is a really big dog's human; turning her away could threaten her life."

"_Thank you_, Temari," Gaara said, sure to add a little extra chill to his voice.

"Here to help," she smirked. "Gaara, don't worry about the Akatsuki. _I'll_ have a word with them. They won't be causing any more damage."

"Should I worry about what damage you will cause in the process?" Gaara inquired. "The last time you handled something, you caused a sandstorm in the West Sands."

She scowled. "Shut up. Just leave it to me." She left the room.

Gaara rubbed his temples. If only he could have a decent night's rest once in a while. "The Zodiac agreement. Any word on the completion of the project yet?"

"It's done." Kankuro set a letter on Gaara's desk. Gaara moved to pick it up, releasing the wax seal and pulling out the parchment. It was simple and stated the Zodiac builders had completed their half of the bargain. Now he had to fulfill Suna's end of the bargain. He'd seen the building as it started development a year and a half ago. He'd watched as it continued to grow in size and stature, becoming an almost fortifiable castle.

For the first time ever, in the history of all the hidden cities, a Chunin exam would happen somewhere other than Konohagakure. To top that off, Sunagakure was to be that city. It was a grand day for all Suna.

"And the housing arrangements for all the visitors?" Gaara asked the Clan Council. "Have you thought about this?"

"We have, Kazekage-sama," one of them said. "We will be housing them in G-District's apartment buildings."

"And the residents of G-District?" Lily demanded. "Where will they be?"

"_They_ do not exist," another Elder Councilwoman sniffed haughtily, "We're talking about the _new_ G-District. The old one is now N-G-District, Felwin. Really, the change was made a full seventeen hours ago; keep up!"

Lily pursed her lips. "Where is the new G-District?"

Gaara looked at the Clan Councilmen for the answer. The previous one who'd spoken stepped toward the city map on one of the walls. He made a circle close to the watering hole. "The district is not very large and consists only of three recently abandoned apartment buildings. We have had our builders renovating them to make them ready for the Chunin exams in August."

"They need to be ready by the end of the week," Gaara said.

"We will need more time than that."

"That is all the time you have, because as early as two weeks from now the participants will have to start arriving, unless you've forgotten it is the wet season. They will have to cross the desert _before_ the floods." Gaara sat down at his desk and pulled a piece of paper toward him. "I will send out formal invitations to all the hidden cities for participation. We may not have a very large turnout if Konoha has their August Chunin exams but keep in mind this is a big time for us." He started writing on the paper in as neat and formal of handwriting as he could manage. The scribes would be able to make multiples later on.

"Is there anything else we can do today, Gaara?" Kankuro asked.

Gaara shook his head. "Kankuro, I want you or Temari to deliver the invitation to Konohagakure." He glanced up and found the councils had already dismissed themselves. Baki stood near the desk. "Baki, will you inform the servants at my house to work on arrangements for the kages? If any do come, or if they send ambassadors in their stead, I want rooms prepared for their use."

Baki raised an eyebrow, "You would house the kages or their ambassadors with your ex-fiancé and four black book criminals?"

Gaara's lips twitched upward but he refused to smile. "I like how you put Kagome _before_ the others in that statement," he told his old teacher. Kankuro laughed and Baki smiled grimly.

"Aw, come on, Gaara," Kankuro said when he could calm himself. "It ain't so bad having her around. She's been giving the cook lessons, and her food is incredible!"

"Do you always think with your stomach?" Baki inquired. "Or is this a new form of idiocy developing in you?"

Gaara handed the completed letter to Kankuro. "Take that to the scribes for reproduction, and speak with Temari about who will travel to Konoha. Go with the usual three-man guard, and when you see Tsunade-sama please ask her if she will be sending someone in her stead, to send someone at least slightly tolerable. I have enough annoyances loitering about the place."

"What makes you certain she will support the new Chunin exam location?" Baki asked. He glared at the two for another moment before shooing them out of the office and settling down to the tedious task of paperwork. He didn't have to be a genius to know that a new location for Chunin exams would benefit _all_ the hidden cities.

* * *

**Thanks to: **.-LM Kitsune-. (Just you wait...it gets better. I said he's PERFECT female Naruto...), Riley Lily Nikita (I await said promised review?), supersillee06 (I'm trying to make it so that even though there's filler, there's also something in each chapter that is important...), zoey tamagachi (you do NOT want to see said finished product... dear heavens, I didn't even know stick figures could DO that...!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I hope this chapter was as good, even if it might not be as funny), Inverness (keep tuned for more on the cursed seal), Dark Inu Fan (I described his eye a little more carefully in this chapter ((or I think I did)) so hopefully that helps), Ichihime (glad to please you), kurkagcrossoverluv (so help you...what? you'll have to be pretty creative to top the rest of the threatskateers out there), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (bad keyboard. You, Mr. Keyboard, need special instructions on how to be properly gay!), DarkRavie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 41 after I posted chapter 42. 

ANSWER: Can anyone guess who I'm going to send in Tsunade's place as ambassador (it wouldn't be fun at ALL if I sent Tsunade...)?

_At the end of every week each one of us becomes a freak tonight the DJ makes his move until the (review) drops from the roof!_


	43. Nana's House

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 43: Nana's House

"Come _on_, Kabuto-kun," Kagome insisted, tugging on the man's arm. He refused to pick up the pace…or actually move at all. He was peering through his large round glasses at a window display of blown glass vases in various sizes and colors and patterns. If there was one thing she knew about him, it was his enjoyment of fine arts. Very few people realized that the members of Akatsuki were also prone to very human actions and desires. They seemed to think Akatsuki were otherworldly. 

No, she'd met _otherworldly_ and Kabuto and the others were as regular as anything. "Let us go inside," Kabuto told her, grabbing her hand and lacing their fingers, tugging her in through the open door.

"Kabuto-kun, I don't want to! I want to go meet Sango-chan and Miroku-san for lunch." She groaned; they were already inside and he was dragging her to a shelf on the wall with more articles of glass art. "It's just a bunch of glass," Kagome muttered. "There's nothing special about it."

"On the contrary," Kabuto said, lifting a decorative, fragile glass reproduction of a hummingbird drinking from a flower. Kagome couldn't say she wasn't impressed by the life-like beauty captured by the glass. "Sunagakure is the glass capital of the world," Kabuto told her. "Most of the city's wealth comes from the tax of exporting glass goods."

"Wow," Kagome breathed. She reached out to touch the beautiful thing, but Kabuto put it back on the shelf and told her not to touch anything. She was a bit miffed at being told not to touch but she knew what his reasoning was. She was very clumsy. So instead, she went to look at items in a locked display. She knew she wasn't going to get to go anywhere until he deemed the place thoroughly looked at.

It was like he was a child in a museum, except he was a calm and composed one. She peered at little pieces of glass spun so fine it looked like fishing wire. One item looked like a perfect replication of a spider on its web; it was so perfect she nearly thought it was _real_.

Once Kabuto had looked at every piece of glass in the store, he finally deemed them able to leave. She was glad to go. Dressed as she was in a black leather mini-skirt and red silk tank-top with a 'v' cut out of the stomach that belonged to Temari, also borrowing a pair of combat sandals since flip-flops annoyed her, she felt very self-conscious of her looks; the store owner had been giving her weird looks.

She'd done what Temari suggested and bound her breasts with a breast band rather than a bra, but that didn't stop people from staring openly at her long legs. She wasn't sure why she attracted such attention in the silk and leather compared to the green and white outfit she normally wore… her normal skirt was _shorter_ than this one.

Her hair was done up in twin braided pig tails. Kabuto wore nothing other than a simple gray cotton tee-shirt, loose black pants, and combat sandals. He no longer wore the forehead protector he used to wear. She recalled at one point he wore a leaf-protector, and then for a while he was wearing a sound-protector.

He still never told her why he was with the crazy snake man, but she wasn't going to pressure him about it. He _did_ save her life, and Gaara was trying to think of a way to get back Kagome's things.

As they were on the way to lunch, Kabuto holding onto her hand tightly to make sure she wasn't lost, they passed by a very large building that looked like it could use a few layers of paint and several repairs. The property had a large amount of yard-space and was ringed by a three-foot high picket fence that looked like it could also use a bit of paint, not to mention several boards were missing off it or were broken.

Outside, three children younger than age five were playing tag. An old sign on the building read, "Suna Orphanage Nana's House," with 'Suna Orphanage' painted in black lettering but struck out with the same yellow paint used to write 'Nana's House'.

"What is this place?" Kagome asked Kabuto, stopping to watch the children play. It looked indecently run down to be a place for children.

"Suna's Orphanage," Kabuto drawled. "Most hidden cities will have a place like this to house their orphans. Orphans then are taught to be shinobi so they can use their lives to repay the city for their care." He crossed his arms over his chest, a frown on his face. "I never did like the orphanage." He told her.

"You were an orphan?" she asked him, knowing she sounded surprised but unable to keep it out of her voice. It sounded like he didn't like a particular orphanage by the way he said 'the' instead of just 'orphanages' as a loose general term.

He nodded sharply. "The man who kidnapped you… his name is Orochimaru. He was performing experiments on shinobi and civilians alike in Konoha—my parents ended up being subjects for his experiments. That's why I was glad to get a mission to spy on Orochimaru; I thought I could get close and maybe get revenge for my parents. It never happened." His eyes fixed on the playing children.

Kagome watched Kabuto for a moment before realization hit her. She said, "That's why you were with the snake man; Orochimaru." Again he nodded and she felt a pang of guilt stab at her. She had ruined his mission by going there, even if going there wasn't at all her intention.

He seemed to know her thoughts. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder in a half-hug and told her, "It isn't your fault. I killed someone Orochimaru needed, so by the time you got there, I was already out of the confidential ring. Orochimaru knows now he should not have trusted me again."

"I'm still sorry," Kagome told him. She turned and looked at the children. "And I'm sorry your parents died…"

"Don't be," Kabuto told her. He looked at his watch and smirked, "And we are _late_."

Kagome's eyes went wide. "_LATE?!_" she demanded. "Oh, how could I let this happen? I'm late, again!" she grabbed his hand and dragged him off. When she took a wrong turn, he chose to grin instead of mention it.

xXx

_KONOHAGAKURE MILITARY NEWSPAPER _

_Get to know your Rookie 9 _

_The Rookie 9 of Konoha was one of the largest groups of Genin-academy graduates that forewent the option of going from the academy to one of the many mastery schools located throughout the world. It consisted of nine out of thirty Genin-academy graduates; seven of them were clan heirs. The other twenty-one graduates had moved on to various mastery schools to specialize in one particular area while the Rookie 9 were given Jounin leaders to guide them in a wider range of their power. _

_ To qualify for being a Jounin leader of a Genin team, the Jounin needs to have no less than four mastery credentials, obtained from no less than four mastery schools. Many factors are taken into account before sending a Genin straight to a mastery school; academy grades, tuition fees, and entrance exam scores are among the largest factors. _

_ The Rookie 9 is as follows: Team 7—Uchiha, Sasuke (98 percentile favorable for Male Sneak-Thief Mastery at age 12), Haruno, Sakura (93 percentile favorable for Female Seducer-Infiltrator Mastery at age 12), Uzumaki, Naruto (8 percentile favorable for Female Seducer-Infiltrator Mastery at age 12). Team 8—Aburame, Shino (100 percentile favorable for Informant Mastery at age 12), Inozuka, Kiba (97 percentile favorable for Exploratory-Informant Mastery at age 12), Hyuga, Hinata (91 percentile favorable for Informant Mastery at age 12). Team 10—Nara, Shikamaru (32 percentile favorable for Informant Mastery at age 12), Akemichi, Chouji (95 percentile favorable for Thief Mastery at age 12), Yamanaka, Ino, (94 percentile favorable for Sneak-Thief Mastery at age 12). _

_ Team 7's Jounin leader is Hatake, Kakashi— _

Naruto scoffed at the paper in his hands as he approached Steinem's. His dress kept flaring up with the wind gusts, but he hardly cared if a little bit of life flashed. Did foxes wear clothes? No. Did rabbits wear clothes? No. Did deer wear clothes? No! Why should female Naruto? He stopped reading the article and tucked it under one arm. An 8 percentile… pish posh! That just proved how much Naruto had improved since age twelve.

It was kind of funny that he was favorable back then for the female S-If mastery, though. They had all taken those tests. It was required, but Naruto knew he wasn't going to do well on it before he even took it. He'd spent so much time training and everything that he'd forgotten to study, not that he felt studying would've helped though.

Now, though he wouldn't tell his friends just yet, he had four mastery credentials—two male, two female. He was holding off telling the guys, because he wasn't sure how they would react to the fact that he spent quite a bit of time at two separate mastery schools while he was supposed to be looking for Sasuke. It wasn't really his choice, though, or at least one that he was going to wish was different anyway.

He was glad he'd chosen to make the deal with Jiraiya. It was while he was in Sunagakure two years prior that he ran into a little bit of a troubled situation and needed money to fix what he'd screwed up. 'Money' as in 'one hundred twenty thousand dollars'.

Jiraiya had made a deal with Naruto. "I'll give you the money, but in return you have to do something." Jiraiya had said. At the time, Naruto just wanted to fix his mistake as fast as possible. "There are two mastery schools I want you to attend. I will pay for you to go, but if you are to continue using the sexy jutsu, you need to improve on the technique."

It was a hard decision to make and took him three sleepless days to decide whether or not he was going to accept the proposal and correct the mistake he made or whether he would just ignore his mistake and hope it never caught up to him, continuing after Sasuke. He only had to put in four months—five with travel time in mind—but he'd decided in the end that he would also get the male mastery credential at both schools so he put in eight months of work training there—nine and a half with travel time.

During that time, he'd managed to build up a network of acquaintances that he considered friends and whom he felt he could call on if the need arose. While he was training, Jiraiya promised he wouldn't booze up or pick up whores, though Naruto knew that was as unlikely to happen as it was for Tsunade to never gamble.

Due to the training, Naruto held a mastery for both the Male and Female Sneak-Thief, and both the Male and Female Seducer-Infiltrator mastery credentials. Of course, after he'd learned the Seducer-Infiltrator mastery and returned to Jiraiya, he kicked Jiraiya's ass out of pure fury and humiliation. Eventually he got over what he'd been through but kicking Jiraiya around helped a lot.

Now, he was beginning to wonder if his little sexuality complex was at all due to that training. He saw nothing _bad_ about kissing a man versus a woman, especially if it meant he was able to get what he wanted in return. Sex was painful for him every time he was a female; the perfect sexy jutsu unfortunately was too perfect and so he, sadly, couldn't keep himself from becoming a virgin every time he transformed. If he stayed in the jutsu, it was a different story, but if he went from female to male to female, he was back to Virgin Naruto.

Sadly, yes, he had sex as both a male and a female, with men and women. It was part of the training. Despite the whole 'I gave my body up' thing, he did learn new ways to gather information and built up his network. If he were to get two more mastery credentials from two different schools—and obviously up his rank to Jounin—he could take on a Genin team.

The Sneak-Thief mastery was especially useful; with that training, he learned to hone his disguises—especially the sexy jutsu. He could be anyone and no one would know unless he wanted them to. With the Seducer-Infiltrator mastery, he'd learned a rather devilish way to loosen tongues and get information. Jiraiya was going to send him to another mastery school, but after the S-If mastery, he couldn't bear any more and they resumed the search for Sasuke.

And of course, then Jiraiya left Naruto alone last winter to 'check up on a few rumors' and Naruto got kidnapped. Naruto made a mental note to kick Jiraiya's ass for that again, just for good measure. Who cared if he already beat Jiraiya up for it?

Naruto stepped into Steinem's office. Sasuke was sitting on his desk, scratching away at a piece of paper with a ball point pen rather furiously. He hadn't even noticed anyone came in. Naruto grinned and stealthily crept up on the other boy; Mariemi wasn't in sight. He could do whatever the hell he wanted. Hell, he could slam Sasuke down on the desk, screw him mindless, and no one would ever know!

Not that Naruto was thinking that. It was simply one of those things he _could_ do, not that he would… Ugh, he spent way too much time with his gay friend Cleo. That guy was the biggest pervert the world had ever seen, which included the combination perversion of Jiraiya and Kakashi.

Naruto leaned on the edge of Sasuke's desk, trailing one long, feminine finger behind Sasuke's ear and down his jaw line. Sasuke reeled away, causing Naruto to laugh. "Aw, you're no fun at _all_, Sasuke." He told the guy.

"I'd rather be no fun," Sasuke spat, "than be touched by the sexually-challenged. What do you want, anyway?"

"Geez, someone's got a stick up their ass," Naruto muttered. "It's lunch time. I just came to get you, that's all. Why are you so pissed off? You can't still be mad I kissed you this morning." Really, Naruto couldn't see what was so big about it; a kiss was just a kiss. Of course, if he thought about it a little harder, he would remember his horror at kissing Sasuke when they were eleven and see where Sasuke was coming from.

Sasuke ran a hand through his short hair. "Damn it, I said something really stupid this morning to It—Kakashi. I said I had a damn girlfriend, and he's going to find out I lied and think we're gay!"

Naruto blinked at his friend. "Why would you say something like that?" he asked. "That really was stupid. I told you I had the gay thing covered. I got him thinking Sakura's gay."

"I got pissed," Sasuke admitted. "He was demanding to know where I was this weekend, and I said I was with my girlfriend. I don't even know what possessed me to say it! I don't fucking have a girlfriend, and if he finds out, we're royally fucked."

"What's so bad about this? Just say you broke up with her, or something," Naruto offered.

Sasuke groaned and set his head down on the desk. "Kakashi would never fall for it."

"Why not? It's not like you said you screwed or anyth—oh you _did_." Sasuke's face was bright red. Naruto laughed and swung his feet. "What a predicament…" He hopped off the desk and spread his arms wide. "Alright then, Sasuke-kun," Sasuke looked up to glare at him, "meet your new girlfriend."

"You ass, you're not my girlfriend. You're not even a fucking girl."

Naruto grinned, "I'm not? Then how come in this form I can get pregnant?"

Sasuke held up two fingers, "One, I don't even want to know _how_ you managed to get yourself anatomically correct, and two, how the hell do you think you'd manage being Naruto _and_ my girlfriend?"

"The Kage Bunshin," Naruto flipped his hair over his shoulder, rolling his eyes at his friend. "I swear you get dumber by the minute."

Sasuke looked around for a moment, making sure they were completely alone, and then whispered, "And the demon features? How are you going to hide them?" Naruto must have looked a little less certain about the idea then, because Sasuke said, "I thought so."

Naruto put his hands on his hips. "I'll just do what Kakashi does and put a face mask on."

"You _really_ need to get your shit together." Sasuke said. "You're starting to freak me out."

Naruto stepped closer to his friend and brought his face level with Sasuke's, grinning. "Oh, and one more thing. You're going to have to react _well_ to me kissing you, 'cause that's what girlfriends do."

Sasuke shuddered. "You're getting some sick kick out of this aren't you?" he accused.

"You bet I am. How better to challenge the great Uzumaki than to give him a two-man mission to perform single-handedly! I am KING, I tell you! KING of disguises!" he gave Sasuke a thumbs-up and turned to leave. "I'll see you at the bridge. I have to go prepare. It won't take long."

"I'm doomed," Sasuke moaned.

* * *

**Thanks to: **Dark Inu Fan (he can't stay dumb forever), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (the Zodiac thing'll be explained soon, if I manage it), Riley Lily Nikita, supersillee06 (Suna is ideal 'cause I want it there? Does that work for you?), zoey tamagachi (sorry, drawing not intended for the eyes of ...well... anyone, really), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I'm thinking of all the teams to mess with, Team 7 has the grand award in funness), kurkagcrossoverlov, .-LM Kitsune-. (yah, you'd be the only one to think that), Ichihime, DarkRavie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 42 after I posted chapter 43.

ANSWER: Seems everyone enjoyed the last chapter a lot... OMG, I'm over 350 reviews. How the hell did this get so damn popular? Oooh, who would read it if I wrote a SasuNaru? Um, cause I'm thinking about doing it (I want to really, really bad) though unfortunately for those lemon lovers, I don't write that stuff. It'd just be a story with a plot... sorry... but is anyone interested in that if I wrote it? I wouldn't spoil my plot yet... (in other words, I have no plot yet)...

_Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, told you if you don't review, you'll be a sorry fool, when he comes to stomp on you..._


	44. Amunet Reiss

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 44: Amunet Reiss

Unlike Naruto who could come and go from Steinem's however he pleased, Sasuke unfortunately had to wait for Mariemi to return from the upper levels before he could go after his friend. He didn't exactly want to violate his parole, so despite how badly he wanted to beat Naruto up at the moment for such a viciously stupid idea as pretending to be his girlfriend, he had to wait.

And wait he did… He shouldn't have taken his temper out on Mariemi. When Mariemi finally _did_ show up, Sasuke had her sign his daily work log verifying he went to work and did his job for as many hours as was required, and then left as fast as he could.

All the while, he was trying to think of how Naruto would get away with being 'Naruko', Sasuke's girlfriend. 'Naruko' was the name he'd given his female form back in the Genin academy. If Naruto announced himself as Naruko, _everyone_ would know it was really Naruto in disguise. It would only serve to make them both seem gayer than before, and that was a situation Sasuke hoped to avoid.

When he got to the bridge, he could already hear the laughter beneath it but he couldn't tell if Naruto was down there yet. The boy had said he needed to 'prepare'. Hopefully Naruto put as much thought into this situation as he did to his pranks…

Scratch that… Most of Naruto's pranks were found out, and the goal was to successfully convince Itachi that Sasuke did indeed have a girlfriend. The goal was in _not_ getting caught. Sasuke fiddled momentarily with the collar of the brown dress shirt he wore. The fourth really had broad shoulders, didn't he? The shirt was almost a tent on Sasuke… Okay, perhaps not that bad…

Naruto caught him in the middle of debating whether or not to show his face under the bridge; he'd apparently just got there himself. "You look really dumb just standing there like that," Naruto told him, his voice a bit muffled. Sasuke glanced at the boy. Naruto was obviously male again, back to wearing his orange and black jumpsuit. The new addition to the boy lay in the tight black face mask covering Naruto's lower half of his face, and the cloth tied at an angle over his right eye—the demon eye.

"You look ridiculous," Sasuke commented.

"Why thank you!" Naruto said, his visible eye crinkling upward in a smile. "There are a few more preparations to be made before the real Naruto shows up," so this Naruto was the clone? Damn that Naruto, he really was gay! He just wanted to have the honor of kissing Sasuke without getting socked in the face… "I'm the clone," Naruto-clone murmured as if it weren't obvious.

Naruto-clone abruptly grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him down the hill before Sasuke could even demand to know what Naruto planned to use as a cover story for the whole girlfriend business. Sasuke hated not knowing the plan in its entirety before it was put into place. This plan, whatever the hell the plan _was_, fell into the category of plans Sasuke did not like.

Sasuke grew up on perfect planning; he would strategize where to best place his tooth brush in the Uchiha Manor as a child. He would plan out exactly how much toothpaste to use to get the most use out of every tube. He would lay out his clothes before bed so they were ready to grab in the morning.

At the Genin academy, he had to always have his pencil _just so_ in the pencil holder on his desk or he would grow frustrated at the imperfection it was. His books were organized in his satchel _strategically_ so that the weight was evenly distributed.

While he was with Orochimaru, he worked a lot with Kabuto and learned a great deal on how to always be properly prepared and have back up plans in case the first failed—lots of back up plans. Never be without a plan, Kabuto had said.

After having that idea drilled into him for so long, Sasuke wasn't good at "winging-it". Now, Sasuke almost felt as though he'd been shoved in a boiling fry vat—without a chance to thaw. As he stood in front of the audience of three people (Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji) with Naruto practically breaking his wrist to keep him from bolting (he wanted to run so, so badly—so what if it was cowardly, he didn't want a girlfriend!) he felt his face turning very red.

And Naruto, _sweet-about-to-die-Naruto_, announced rather boldly, "Sasuke has a girlfriend, everybody!"

Sasuke knew he was shaming all beets in existence. Ino's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. Shikamaru looked like he would never have seen _that_ cloud coming. Chouji actually started choking on a cookie.

Ino was clenching her fists in anger. "I WANT TO MEET THIS WHORE!" Ino screeched. "NO ONE TAKES MY SASUKE!"

Maybe Sasuke should've gone to Ino, explained the situation, and asked _her_ to pretend to be his girlfriend? Was it too late? At least she was a girl, unlike Naruto… who was a guy, and who had a mission failure rate that exceeded his success rate _twice_. Why the hell was Naruto attempting this?

Completely unsure of what to say now, Sasuke decided it would be a great time to point out, "Uh, he's choking…" he indicated the red-faced Chouji…

xXx

Naruto smirked as he looked at himself in the mirror of the store. It was a woman's clothing store and he was in a dressing room gauging his appearance in a royal purple tank top, a short-sleeve black zipper-sweater-top, and nearly skin-tight short-shorts. Combined with a new pair of black combat sandals, a black push-up bra, and a whole new disguise, he looked damn sexy.

This disguise wasn't scrawny like the Naruko disguise who looked like a fragile girl (even if Naruko could whip the ass of the strongest soldier in just a few seconds). This disguise was six full inches shorter than Naruto would be as himself, busty, and had meat on her bones. She wasn't chunky like Chouji, but she wasn't anorexic like Ino either. She was stocky but none of it was fat.

His disguise turned his ordinarily sunny head of hair into a navy color and barely met his chin, hanging in dark ringlets that gave him a sort of doll-like quality, and his bright blue eyes became pools of deep purple coloring. His skin wasn't tan like normal, but was black like coal and when he smiled, his teeth looked even more pearly than normal. He couldn't do too much with his hair without turning it into an afro, and he rather liked it as ringlets, so he'd purchased two hair clips to pull his bangs out of his eyes.

He had gone to the storage shed to pull out the things he needed to complete the disguise. They were still in the backpack he'd used while traveling with Jiraiya. His clone wore Tsunade's necklace—he would only ever entrust that important item with himself, after all, and it would be a dead giveaway in his disguise. There was enough chakra in that clone to last for days. His demon eye was hidden in this disguise as were the whisker-scars that identified Naruto as himself, and the many scars he'd accumulated over the years were nothing but smooth skin.

Winking long, curled lashes at his reflection, Naruto grabbed up his small bag of required ninja-gear. This disguise would be incomplete without the ninja gear, after all. He pulled out several unmarked items; the disguise was obviously not a 'local' person. Anyone who looked at the black skin and immediately pegged him a citizen of Konoha was incredibly stupid. Sure, there were a few people with dark skin in Konoha…but that was just it… _few_ as in, less than many.

On the small of his back, lined horizontal, Naruto strapped "Hugo the Tearblade". It was a dagger with a one-and-a-half foot long blade that curved in a similar fashion to a scimitar. Hugo's blade was double edged, though the outer curve of the blade had dangerous teeth that would tear at flesh instead of simply cutting cleanly.

He strapped a small nin-kit on the outside of each muscled thigh. They were large enough to hold six shuriken in each; a two and a half inch wide band around each wrist held vials of various substances including tonics and poisons held in place. Out of a small case, he pulled a pair of thin, black, round framed glasses and put them on. They weren't real glasses, obviously, but were a part of the persona he'd created. Last but certainly not least was the forehead protector. It was a blank piece of metal attached to a black cloth.

He tied it loosely around his neck; it was an idea he'd gotten from Hinata. Girls look so cute with it around their neck… And, well, actually, Naruto was looking more than cute even if he was complimenting himself.

Finally ready, he tugged one of the ringlets gently and watched it bounce back into place before stalking out to the front counter. He'd come _into_ the store as a black woman wearing a red-orange sundress and combat sandals. He was _leaving_ as a black foreign kunoichi.

He showed the saleslady his receipt—he'd paid for the clothes he wanted and then went into the dressing room to change—and headed out of the store. He garnered a great deal of attention as he headed leisurely toward his storage shed; he had to put his mother's dress away.

The lunch hour was nearly over already by the time he made it to the Rookie 9's usual meeting place under the bridge. Grinning widely, he snuck down the path and listened to the conversation for a few moments before intruding. Ino was quite obviously present because she was badgering an obviously present but lock jawed Sasuke about his new girlfriend, and 'Naruto' was laughing like a maniac.

Naruto smirked and closed his eyes, letting himself lift into the persona of his made-up character. There wasn't much difference between the male and female Sneak-Thief mastery. The whole goal was to create five _maintainable_ and _sustainable_ personas that could be used as disguises; five female disguises for the female mastery, and five male disguises for the male mastery.

Not very many people could attain both mastery credentials from one mastery school. It had been done before, but it was very uncommon. The difference between Naruto and every other male who attained the female Sneak-Thief mastery was that he was a _perfect_ female. He could procreate if he got pregnant, which inevitably meant if he stayed in his female form for thirty days, five of those days he had to deal with having a period.

He envied women; he'd never make it being a woman constantly, having to deal with such painful cramps and bloating and fatigue and not to mention the random mood swings and food cravings… While he was at the school, with the help of his professor, he managed to come up with a way to form the jutsu so that it would remain a constant disguise even in an unconscious state.

He was still working on making it so his clones could be the disguised character, but it was still too draining on his chakra to keep a clone constantly transformed.

One of the many things Naruto learned at the Sneak-Thief mastery school was document forgery. He had to be able to forge documents that proved who he was when he was in disguise, and those documents had to be able to hold up under very close scrutiny. It was life or death if the documents failed in some cases. In one nin-kit, he had a forged shinobi ID card for Amunet Reiss, a Genin-Kunoichi from the Zodiac Mountain region.

But the forged ID card wasn't enough; he had to adapt the personality of his character unfailingly. To do this, he would lift himself into 'Amunet's mind and _become_ her. With the sexy jutsu combined with the transformation jutsu, his physical appearance would stand up to even the most hardcore blood traits like the Sharingan or the Byakugan which could reveal fraud if it was poorly done. Now he just had to make sure those minds sharper than his—especially Kakashi's—didn't figure out who Amunet was.

He opened his dark purple orbs and then stepped out into the open, away from the shelter of the bridge stones. His eyes searched for Sasuke. He found the boy sitting like a lump on the ground by the river, staring adamantly at the water as though by looking at it he might have a life altering epiphany. Ino knelt next to him, jabbering away and trying to get Sasuke to respond to her demanding questions.

A few feet away, Naruto's clone lay next to Shikamaru and Chouji; Chouji and the clone were discussing what type of Ramen to get for dinner. Shikamaru was ignoring everything that was going on. By the fact that none of the other guys were present, Naruto guessed Kiba, Shino, and Hinata were on a mission, and his plan to make Sakura look gay worked better than he thought.

"Sas'ke," Naruto chirped, carefully mindful of the particular accent of real Zodiacs. That was probably one of the hardest things to learn when he chose to disguise himself as a Zodiac kunoichi. The accent went right along with learning the Zodiac _language_, which would have been absolutely _impossible_ to learn if he didn't already know it. He'd been taught the language by the Zodiac themselves when he traveled to their mountain somewhere around twenty six months ago.

All attention turned to Naruto. Even Shikamaru looked away from the clouds to view the busty black woman. Sasuke's eyes bulged and his jaw dropped. His eyes became twin Sharingan wheels and he was obviously trying to figure out who the girl was. After a few very long seconds of silence, Sasuke asked, "Do… I know…"

Naruto wanted to roll his eyes but refrained… Amunet would not roll her eyes. "Aw, come now," he teased in Amunet's melodious alto voice. "I know I am hawd to see in ze dawk and awl, buht…"

Sasuke's eyes would've popped out of his socket if he could get them any wider. "You're… HOLY SHIT! You're a black woman!" he said, obviously _not_ prepared. Naruto wondered if Sasuke knew how shallow he was sounding…

The Naruto-clone cackled. Naruto glared at the clone. Sometimes they were _too_ similar to him, because Naruto told the clone to warn Sasuke before he got there what to expect. Obviously his clone had taken the initiative to watch what was funnier rather than go the safe route… It was what real-Naruto would've done in the clone's place.

Ino stared at Naruto with equally wide eyes, her lips flapping much like a fish out of water. "R…R…Reiss…" Ino stammered, "Amunet Reiss… And…and Sasuke-kun… together… Amunet Reiss is… in…"

"INO YAMANAKA!!" Sakura could be heard squealing from somewhere most likely far away. "INO-PIG, I SAW AMUNET REISS! I MEAN IT! I SAW HER HERE!!"

Naruto smiled a charming little smile at the fish-flapping Ino and put one hand on his hip. "Is somesing ze problem?"

"Pst," Chouji whispered at Ino, "who is she?"

"Oh my god, Chouji!" Ino snapped at her teammate, "how can you _not_ know Amunet Reiss?! She's the _sister_ of the hottest guy to walk the face of the planet!"

Sakura practically flew down from the bridge without even bothering with the pathway. "Ino-pig!" she yelled, "I swear, I saw Amunet Reiss!" Ino merely pointed her finger and Sakura's eyes followed that commanding finger. Sakura's jaw dropped and then her eyes became big, round tennis balls.

And then the squealing began. Sasuke had to cover his ears or risk losing his hearing from the two girls standing so close to him. "Amunet Reiss," Ino and Sakura screamed and hugged each other and jumped around in excitement.

Chouji pointed out, "But who is her brother? You never said his name."

Sakura glared at Chouji, "Nana Reiss!" She said it like it was obvious.

Sasuke got to his feet quickly and pulled Naruto up the path again. Naruto's clone whistled sharply and said, "Sasuke can't wait! Sasuke can't wait!" Ino was already proceeding to describe Nana Reiss's greatness—which Naruto personally got a big kick out of because he _knew_ Nana wasn't that great at all—and Sakura was inserting random comments describing how Nana was such an excellent singer (and oh how she would just die to meet him!).

Sasuke dragged Naruto to the closest alleyway he could find where they could seek some semblance of privacy. When they were mostly alone—the only one present was a grubby looking man with a sallow expression digging through a garbage bin—Sasuke turned furious black eyes on Naruto. "A little heads-up might've been nice!" he growled.

"I _did_ tell my clone to warn you," Naruto conceded, "but I guess a larger part of me would find it funnier if everyone thought you were gay."

"My reputation isn't the only thing on the line here," Sasuke warned him, "don't you care what everyone would think of you if you weren't as straight as an arrow?"

"My reputation doesn't matter to me," Naruto told Sasuke. "So what do you think of Amunet?" He batted his long lashes at Sasuke and Sasuke only glared harder at Naruto.

"Impersonating a woman is going to be hard enough for your pea-brain, but no, you _obviously_ chose to impersonate a famous woman… Did you think this through _at all_? Did you give it even a single thought?" Sasuke was very frustrated but Naruto stiffened his resolve.

He poked Sasuke in the chest with his stocky forefinger. "Did you think how disappearing would affect all your friends?" He smiled grimly, "Obviously not, because I went to hell and back for you; to find you."

"You what?" Sasuke sounded confused; Naruto wasn't sure how he could be more obvious.

"I came looking for you. Around the time you were brought back, I came back. Jiraiya made me return; I didn't want to come back without you. I froze, I drowned, I burned all in the effort of getting you back home. These guys here," he jutted his thumb at the entrance of the alley, toward the bridge where Team 10 and Sakura were, "they don't know what I went through the last two and a half years, and they're not asking. Only Granny and Jiraiya know everything. None of us are asking you what you went through with Orochimaru the last three years either, but I bet you told Granny everything, didn't you?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, "I agreed to tell her," he admitted, "but the Elder Council was also present."

"Well _we_ aren't asking. We want to know, sure. I'd be on my knees, begging, if I thought you'd tell me; you're not ready to tell me though. I get that. And I'm not ready to tell you or anyone else the things I went through. Just trust me; I thought this over. I can't tell you how I know this, but my impersonation of Amunet Reiss isn't going to backfire on either of us. She's the best choice for your girlfriend because she's a kunoichi and can protect herself from your kunoichi fan club, and she's foreign so long absences won't be questioned. To top that off, she's graceful, smart, quick acting and practically worships men so she's your type of girl too."

Sasuke sighed and leaned on the wall behind him, looking at his friend with calculating eyes. Naruto had indeed put a lot of thought into his disguise, but Sasuke worried that Amunet Reiss or her brother might find out his friend was impersonating the woman. If that happened, it really would backfire no matter how much Naruto claimed it wouldn't. "Who is Nana Reiss?" Sasuke asked, resigning himself to the frightening task of 'dealing as things came'. What ever happened to planning? Didn't anyone do that anymore?

But how could they plan for the worst anyway? It wasn't like Naruto could possibly know Nana or Amunet Reiss… or could he?

"Nana and his sister are from the Zodiac Mountains. Nine out of ten children up there are women, so men are considered precious and to be protected and worshipped. Men cannot be shinobi there, so Nana is a civilian. He was the lead singer in the band R.E.N.U. for a brief period of time before he quit the band and went to Sunagakure where he had previously purchased an orphanage, turning it from a publicly run place into a privately owned house. He adopted the children so they wouldn't be forced into the military. His sister is his assigned guardian but she's been known to leave him for extended periods of time."

Naruto placed his small, stubby hand on Sasuke's shoulder, looking up into his friend's eyes. "This is going to work out." Naruto promised. "Just keep in mind you met Amunet this weekend because she came to visit me."

"Came to visit… you?" Sasuke ran a finger over the 'x' scar on his face as it tingled with his annoyance. "Why would she—" he started.

Naruto said, "Because I know her. I suppose you could say I met her and Nana while I was looking for you." _That_ was an understatement, but understatements could never be avoided. Naruto wasn't really ready to tell Sasuke that he _was_ Amunet and that Amunet was just a made-up character. There would really be questions raised then, like how Amunet was related to Nana and… well… _questions he didn't want to answer yet_.

"Fine," Sasuke conceded, "let's just say I agree to this incredibly sketchy plan… What do I have to do?"

"Kiss me," Naruto smirked. While they'd been talking in the alleyway, they'd kept their voices down. Naruto moved closer to his friend, humor practically overflowing out of his eyes. "Because they're watching." Naruto could see Sakura's pink head poking around the corner of the alley in his peripheral vision.

Sasuke could barely keep his face stony. He wanted to _glare_ at 'Amunet' but he also didn't want this sketchy plan to fail. Naruto waited for his friend this time; if he chose not to, that was his choice. But Naruto felt this was a good way to let his friend agree to the plan. There were probably other ways to save his reputation, but Sasuke had all morning to come up with those ways.

Finally, Sasuke gave in and reached out, placing his hands on his friend's hips to pull their bodies closer. Sasuke leaned down—he could feel the glares from Sakura and Ino…what kind of mess was he getting into…?—and breathed in his friend's ear, "I hate you."

Naruto grinned and licked his friend's earlobe. Sasuke at least didn't pull away. "What is worse? I know this game is pretend, but if anyone else were in my place, they would think it to be real. Do it or don't. Your choice."

Sasuke moved slightly so he could look into his friend's eyes; when they met, Sasuke decided to get it over with and he leaned down and pressed his lips against 'Amunet's. He could tell Naruto was gloating victoriously as though he'd won a great prize as the other boy wrapped his stocky black arms around Sasuke's pale neck. 'We're like milk and chocolate,' Sasuke noted. His mind noted randomly, 'But he tastes like caramel… this is so wrong…'

Gasps could be heard from the entrance to the alleyway. Very _pissed off_ gasps.

* * *

**Thanks to: **zoey tamagachi (good thinking), supersillee06 (sure, there's importance to it...my will is very important), Dark Inu Fan (does this answer some questions?), .-LM Kitsune-. (Sorry, but this would be a real SasuNaru, though I wouldn't do any squeaky scenes, promise!), Ichihime (Naruto is a great character; I don't like him remaining undertalented), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (You should really listen to 'come with me' by Special D), props (hope to see you again, thanks for joining us and reviewing), armchair sailor (welcome to the story!), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (muahahaha...that is all I can say), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 43 after I posted chapter 44. 

ANSWER: I have my idea for a SasuNaru, now I just have to start the first chapter. Oh, and start the first chapter I will...hehehe. Just when you think I couldn't have more stories to work on, I prove you wrong. I hope to see you all on that one too when I post it! For those who shy away from yaoi, I can promise this SasuNaru will NOT have lemons! -shudder- Lemons...

_'Cause when you're falling, I can't tell which way is down and when you're screaming somehow I don't hear a sound...('cause I'm reading your review)... (lyrics from "When You're Falling" by the Afro Celt Sound System)_


	45. The Death of Naruto Uzumaki

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 45: The Death of Naruto Uzumaki

"Amunet Reiss?"

Naruto pulled away from Sasuke and glared at the intruder, though it took a second to get over his surprise that it wasn't Ino or Sakura interrupting the kiss. He had been so sure Ino or Sakura would've leapt at him and tried to strangle him or something, but instead he saw an ANBU with a mask painted like a zebra's face.

From the way Sasuke's finger's gripped Naruto's waist and his body tensed up, Naruto knew Sasuke was as wary of ANBU now as Naruto was. After all, just last week Naruto was attacked by several members of ANBU and whacked on the head and left in the Forbidden Forest. Even if it was due to Kyuubi manipulating people into doing his bidding, it still left a foul taste in one's mouth enough to cause hesitation.

Aside from that, there was no reason any ANBU should be confronting Naruto under the guise of Amunet, right? He found himself more nervous now than he'd been when he happened upon a woman in labor and no one else was around. At least this time he wouldn't have to try helping a woman give birth.

"Whut eez et?" Naruto asked, making sure to use the proper accent his disguise called for. A glance over the shoulder of the ANBU told Naruto that his friends were watching from the end of the alley. Sakura and Ino were looking quite suspicious, while Shikamaru was merely curious and Chouji was shocked. Naruto's clone met Naruto's eyes and—after a discrete nod from Naruto—disappeared unnoticed by Naruto's friend. His clone would find a position quickly where, should there be any trouble (such as attacking ANBU guards attempting to knock Naruto out again), he could easily intervene.

Naruto was taking _no_ chances.

"We need a private word with you," the ANBU said and then jutted his head upward toward the roof. Two more ANBU were up there looking down into the alley.

"Whut aboot?" Naruto demanded.

"Do not question us," the ANBU said. "Please come with us quietly. You may meet your friends later."

"She isn't going anywhere," Sasuke said, and Naruto was surprised for the second time in only a few minutes. He was surprised that Sasuke sounded so protective of him, even though Sasuke thought Amunet was a real person.

"She will be returned to you unharmed, shinobi," the ANBU stated. "Miss Reiss, I suggest you come with me _now_. What I have to say is not something you will wish your friends to hear."

Naruto scowled but he nodded anyway and pushed Sasuke's hands off him. Sasuke's coal black eyes flashed with irritation. The boy said, "You don't have to go."

"I do," Naruto said to his friend in a low voice before turning and walking steadily toward the ANBU. Once he was close enough, the ANBU grabbed his arm and leapt up to the rooftop in a single bound. Naruto knew he would be feeling that unkind treatment in his shoulder by morning.

Once up on the roof, he peered over the edge down at his best friend for a brief second before pulling away from the edge and looking at the ANBU warily. In his mind, he heard Kyuubi whispering, _Follow them._ He did want to trust that Kyuubi wasn't leading him into a trap but it was a little harder to do now.

"Whut eez et?" Naruto asked again.

"Give us a moment," the Zebra ANBU said and the two blank-masked ANBU stepped away. The Zebra ANBU moved in closer to Naruto and said, "I know who you are. You can drop the accent, Uzumaki." Naruto's eyes went wide and his right hand instantly flew to the hilt of Hugo the Tearblade. "Relax, Uzumaki. I'm not here to expose you for being gay. If that's how you like it…"

Naruto scowled and hissed, "It's different than it looks."

"I'm sure it is," the ANBU said leisurely and shrugged. The ANBU lifted his hand up, releasing the ties that kept his mask in place. Then he slowly pulled the mask away from his face to reveal _not_ a man, but a woman and she was grinning broadly. Naruto's jaw dropped open. He knew her from his travels with Jiraiya.

She was a tall woman, built like a man—or a rock, Naruto supposed—with broad shoulders, a broad muscled chest, and a thick waist and legs. Had Naruto been himself, he still would've been shorter than her. Her chocolate eyes matched the color of her hair which was cropped short around her head in a man's cut. He knew for a fact that she wasn't a kunoichi, which brought to mind questions of why she would be dressed up like ANBU. Her skin was sunburned, though it was white around her eyes as if she'd been wearing goggles.

She answered the unasked question, "No one notices a few more shinobi in a shinobi village, so we—um—_rescued_ a few uniforms."

"Arsendibar," Naruto whined, slumping his shoulders and moaning. "No one would've questioned you if you came as yourself! And now I have to explain to Sasuke why I've been kidnapped! And where are the people who own the uniforms?"

"You worry too much," Arsendibar huffed in her low, borderline male voice.

Naruto glanced over her shoulder at the two blank-masked 'shinobi'. "And who are they?" he asked.

She jutted a thumb at the one on the left, "Iggs and Nurgen," she pointed to the one on the right. "You haven't met them yet. Cid hired 'em on a few months ago."

"So you _kidnapped_ me to introduce me to your dad's new crew members? Where is old Cid anyway?"

"Sky Pirating it up in heaven with the Goddesses," Arsendibar smiled as if remembering something fond about her father Cid. Then she shook her head and said, "I'm _Captain_ Arsendibar now, to you!"

He glared at her. "You're still younger than me by a full year. I'll call you what I want to, Bug." She laughed and he knew her thoughts. "You might be bigger but I already know that big people fall the hardest and _I'm_ a trained shinobi and could kick your ass! I'm an equal opportunity shinobi, so I have no problem beating up a girl."

"You're still as funny as you were when we met!" Arsendibar cackled.

"You mind telling me why you, new Captain of Argreena the Sky Pirate vessel, are in Konoha? There aren't any Arthlezenithite ruins anywhere here, are there?" He'd met Arsendibar and her kooky dad Cid in the Land of Rock when Jiraiya got wind of a rumor that a pale faced shinobi from Fire Country was living in some mountain ruins there. It turned out the pale faced shinobi from Fire Country was actually Cid, but he wasn't living in the mountain ruins. He was treasure hunting with his crew of Sky Pirates after he'd been exiled from Konoha. Naruto never found out why he'd been exiled though.

Together with their crew of Sky Pirates on Argreena (a flying ship Cid found by accident as a young boy on one of his missions to an Arthlezenithite ruin and had got running again) Cid and his daughter flew all over the world searching for hidden treasures.

"Sure," Arsendibar beamed at him, "I could tell you. But what'll you give me in return?"

"_You_ came looking for _me_! I didn't ask you to come, so you can't bribe me into giving you anything." Naruto grumbled. "Now tell me why you're here, Arsendibar, or I'll be a good little shinobi and tell my granny you've stolen uniforms and are masquerading about as Konoha ANBU. It'll be hard to captain the Argreena if you're in jail."

Faster than Naruto would've thought two civilians could go, Iggs and Nurgen had crossed the roof and had pulled out strange, obviously foreign weapons. The weapons were 'L' shaped and Naruto recalled Cid telling him that these weapons were called _Pistols_ and were projectile weapons. They shot _bullets_ instead of arrows or bolts and the bullets had more speed than an arrow or bolt did. The barrels of the two pistols were aimed right at Naruto's head.

"Lower your weapons, _now_," Arsendibar ordered, a revolver in each hand and aimed at the back of Iggs' and Nurgen's heads. She had once told Naruto she preferred her old Arthlezenithite revolvers to the more advanced Arthlezenithite pistols that could hold more bullets. Iggs and Nurgen didn't move right away so she cocked both weapons using her thumbs. "I _said_ lower your weapons," Arsendibar growled. "Do as I say or die here and now. Naruto is my _friend_ and I will not have him threatened!"

Naruto used this chance to duck away from the two barrels, remove Hugo the Tearblade from its sheath at the small of his back.

"He's threatening _you_," Iggs snapped.

Naruto smashed Hugo's hilt into Nurgen's hand. He heard a bone snap, but the gun dropped into Naruto's hand and he grabbed it and spun around, sliding his leg out and tripping Iggs. As Iggs fell backward, his finger pulled the trigger and less than a second later, Naruto felt a strange pressure on his shoulder. Naruto wondered how many people heard the loud bang that accompanied the shot.

_Well, that went well,_ Kyuubi said in his mind, voice slathered in dry humor. _What else can you screw up in less than a minute, kit? You could've gotten us both killed._

"Shut up," Naruto grumbled as Arsendibar holstered her weapons and shot toward Naruto.

"No one said anything, Naruto," Arsendibar said. Naruto glanced at his shoulder and hissed as he saw all the blood and realized getting shot really _hurt_. Or at least, it hurt when he realized he was injured. "Nurgen, take that gun away from Iggs and return to the ship. When you get there, lock him in the brig! I'll deal with him later!"

Naruto put a hand on his shoulder and winced when touching it seemed to send fire spreading through the wound. "I just bought this shirt," Naruto said, "and now it has a hole in it! This shirt cost me twenty bucks!"

"What the hell are you made of?!" Arsendibar demanded. "You've just been shot and you're worried about a _hole_ in your shirt?" She pulled his hand away from the wound and pulled the collar of his black sweater-top back, having to unzip it a little more to see the wound. Naruto felt Nurgen pull the gun out of his hand and then the two headed toward the mountains.

"Where's Hugo?" Naruto asked a moment later when he realized the blade wasn't in his hand anymore.

"You dropped it, now stand still." Arsendibar unzipped the sweater-top all the way and carefully took it off him. He hissed as moving his shoulder sent fire into his brain. "Big baby," she clucked. She looked at his back. "It didn't go through, so the bullet is still in there." She bent and picked up Hugo. "Come on. We'll get you to the ship. The Doctor can take a look at this and pull the bullet out."

_You want me to take the wheel?_ Kyuubi asked. _You don't have to feel the pain that way._

"No, I'm fine," Naruto said.

"Naruto, you're not fine." Arsendibar said, balling up his shirt and pushing it against his shoulder. He hissed again as the applied pressure caused him pain. "You were just shot! How is that consistent with 'fine'?"

Naruto groaned miserably. "I'm going insane," he admitted. "Look, I'll just go to the hospital, okay?"

"Don't hate me for doing this," Arsendibar said and then she hit Naruto hard enough to knock him out. He slumped to the ground and then the big fourteen-year-old lifted him up onto her shoulder and headed toward the mountains.

When he woke, he was in a crisp, clean metal room lying on a metal bed. He was strapped down but that was only for safety purposes he knew. He was pretty sure he was in the Argreena's sick bay. His shoulder and chest was bandaged in white linen and his new purple tank top was no longer on his body. It, and his holy shirt, was folded beside his sick bed.

He reached up and pulled the clasp on the buckle that kept him from falling off the bed (it was an airship, so turbulence was to be expected from time to time) and then sat up. He was still in Amunet's disguise. He could tell that much simply by the fact that the tight shorts weren't killing him like they would if he'd poofed into Naruto.

"Well, look who joined the world of the living," an older woman teased from across the room. Naruto grinned sheepishly at her. "You know, I do tell Arsendibar to be gentle, but she never listens, does she, Naruto?"

"I guess not, Doc," he agreed and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Uh, Doc?"

"Yes, dear?" She turned her gray eyes on him and he was again struck with the curiosity of who exactly she was. Most of the people on the Argreena had some shadowy past they were hiding or running from. Some of them were servants who had stolen from their masters, and some of them were runaway shinobi or kunoichi or even ordinary soldiers where they came from.

The Argreena was the perfect place to hide from whatever past these people were running from. After all, if the Argreena was the only currently operational flying ship, then there was no chance of it being taken down since it could go higher up than any weapon could reach. Aside from that, it had the capability of blending into the sky like a chameleon could to its surroundings, maybe even better than that.

What was the Doc hiding from? No one knew her real name or who she'd been before she came to the Argreena. The only thing they really knew for sure about her was that she was old and that at some point in her life she was a doctor or maybe a nurse. So everyone called her Doctor or 'the Doc'.

"Uh, I had a black bra too," Naruto said, pointing to the pile of clothes beside him. His chest was wrapped up in linen like he was wearing a breast band so he was still mostly dressed for the sake of modesty, but the bra cost more than the shorts he was wearing so he didn't want to lose it.

"You certainly did," the Doc said easily and walked over with a small cloth sack. There appeared to be a few things in it already, and she put his two shirts in it and then pressed it in his hands. "Now there is some linen in here for you, and a salve for you to rub on the stitches two or three times a day. Don't go running about doing heavy work or lifting or you'll tear the stitches."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, blushing even though it wasn't easy to tell he was with his dark chocolate skin. "Is my bra in here?"

"You're on a pirate ship, dear. Half of these men haven't had a woman in _ages_, and not everyone knows you're really a man—or if they do, they don't care—so our beloved captain made the executive decision to have an auction." She chuckled as he shuddered. "Relax, dear, she at least had the peace of mind not to sell you, although that did take a bit of convincing on my part." She pressed a small corked bottle into his hand. "A souvenir for you. Now you run along and see the captain."

She turned and walked away from him, setting about her work in the sick bay even if she currently had no patients. He slid off the bed, sack in hand, and looked into the bottle. There was a lump of metal in the jar; the bullet he supposed. He shoved the bottle in the sack and pulled out his zipper-sweater-top, carefully pulling it onto his form and zipping it up.

He had a woman to chew out. He grabbed the sack and marched out of the sick bay. What he saw outside surprised him. Usually every corridor throughout the ship was kept clear, but everywhere he looked there were beds made out of ragged blankets and women who appeared to be between the ages of eleven and forty lay on those beds, reading or chatting noisily with their neighbor.

He picked his way through the mess of people. Every once in a while there would be a male, but there weren't many of them. Naruto noticed every single one of those lying on the beds wore forehead protectors. The majority of the forehead protectors were blank which signified the shinobi or kunoichi belonged to a hidden village with fewer than five hundred warriors. A few of them had symbols stamped into them, like Konohagakure's leaf symbol or Sunagakure's sand symbol.

All were dressed in the same type of garment: expensive white silk. The males were dressed in a top and bottom pajama set while the females wore skimpy silk bathrobes that barely came to their thighs and even skimpier white silk nightgowns beneath those. Even though they were dressed in the white silk, for most of them, the silk wasn't quite white anymore. Most of them were covered in dirt and every single person looked like they hadn't showered in quite some time.

Naruto could accurately guess where these people were from. The real question he had was why the students of the Seduction-Infiltration Mastery School were on the Argreena and how they ended up on the ship. Old Cid was a kind-hearted basket case, that much was true, but there were so many people even Cid would've balked at the thought of having them aboard the ship.

He'd counted somewhere around seventy-five people (he lost count) by the time he made it to the lift that would take him up to the bridge. He got on the lift and pushed the button "B". The lift carried him up to the very topmost level of the giant ship and came to a stop. The doors opened and the first thing he heard was Arsendibar's voice calling out, "TRIGGER HAPPY JACKASS!" There was a heavy sound of flesh against flesh.

Naruto walked out of the lift and toward the rail overlooking the elements that made up the bridge. This room was where the ship was controlled. There weren't people littering the floor here probably because if one place needed to be open, it was the bridge. Massive amounts of electronics and strange devices that Naruto could never understand how to operate if he wanted to took up the sides of this room. Cid had trained fifteen people to operate the different panels so the flight could be smooth.

At the front of the room, jutting out of the ship itself and surrounded by large glass windows held in metal framework was the captain's seat. The captain generally flew the monstrosity known as the Argreena. Cid had called that seat the 'helm', equating the seat and the control sticks in it to the helm on a water ship. If the captain wasn't in his seat, the ship could be controlled through a handheld panel or it could be put on autopilot. The handheld panel wasn't very big; Sakura had a CD player that was bigger than the handheld flight panel.

Somewhere close to twenty people were off to either side of the bridge, buckled into the chairs in front of their control panel. They were turned in their chairs and watching as Arsendibar yelled at a man crumbling at her feet. Arsendibar looked furious. Naruto only needed one guess to figure out the man must be Iggs.

"I AM CAPTAIN! YOU OBEY MY ORDERS OR YOU GET THROWN OVERBOARD! This isn't a water ship; if you get thrown overboard, you're going to SPLAT. Do you understand?!" Arsendibar said snappishly. "_Do you understand?!_"

"Yes, yes, captain! I understand!!" Naruto knew there was every reason for Iggs to be afraid of Arsendibar if she was angry. She was big and muscled for a fourteen-year-old and she had very quick reflexes. Cid had told Naruto in confidence that Arsendibar was a real Arthlezenithite. He'd come across a ruins deep in the mountains in the Land of Mists that was filled with glass tubes connected to control panels.

Inside those tubes, enveloped in liquid, were creatures of all different manner and species. Arsendibar was one of those in a tube, just a few months old and stuck in a suspended sleep—not aging, not growing, just sleeping. Cid had drained the tube and woke her up, not sure if it would really work or if doing so would kill her. It hadn't killed her and Cid raised her as his own after that, never telling her where he really got her.

If it were true that Arsendibar was an Arthlezenithite…

Naruto shook himself mentally. Now was no time to be worrying about Arsendibar's heritage or anything, though Naruto did wonder what would happen if he introduced Arsendibar to Lee…

"Goddesses, give me strength to forgive," Arsendibar murmured, sighing heavily. Then she said, "Iggs, get out of my bridge. You are not to touch another weapon, and when our guests go, so do you."

"B-but captain!" Iggs whined fearfully. Whatever past he was running from, Naruto guessed it must be a heavy one.

"Don't, Iggs. You're on thin ice already. Now, unless you want to be dragged from the back of the ship on a frayed rope, I suggest you get out of my bridge." Arsendibar snapped. "You're better off taking your chances out there than staying here with me."

Iggs scrambled to his feet and took off up the stairs to the landing in front of the lift doors. He disappeared into the lift, sparing Naruto only the barest of terrified glances. Naruto met Arsendibar's eyes and raised one eyebrow.

"Don't you give me that look," she yelled up at him.

Naruto turned toward the stair that wound down to the bridge, walking down it with one hand on the rail and the other gripping the little sack. A few of the people in the control seats smiled at him, recognizing him. He grinned back at them before putting his attention back on Arsendibar. "Arsendibar, it was my fault I got shot."

"That's what you said the last time too, but it wasn't your fault then either. If he had listened to me and put his weapon away, or perhaps realized I can take care of myself from a grimy little runt like you, maybe none of this would've happened." She looked at one of the people around, "Find me some whisky, will you?"

"Oh, yeah, _that's_ safe," Naruto grumbled. "Get drunk and then fly an air ship. Woo hoo! I want to be onboard for _that_."

"I knew you would," she laughed. "You want anything to drink?"

She was out of the ANBU uniform now, wearing thick pants and a heavy fur cloak over a deerskin shirt. The fur cloak looked as filthy as it did when old Cid had worn it; the fur was matted in some places, and it was raggedy and torn. She pulled on her leather gloves. Her goggles were on her face, though they were against her forehead at the moment.

"Do you have milk?" he asked curiously.

She looked at the man, "And a glass of warm melk for my friend."

"Milk," Naruto corrected her. "How is it you can accurately mimic everything about our language, except the word milk?"

She rolled her eyes and ignored his query. "Did you see those people on your way here?" The man went to get the drinks.

"Yeah," he frowned, "kind of hard to miss. Why are they here?"

"See, that's what I need your help with. There're about three hundred of them. We heard rumors about a Mastery School that'd been attacked and left abandoned, and naturally old Cid wanted to check it out so we went. We were just going to snatch any good dishes or blankets or food if any was still good—you know, the common routine. Instead, we found the rumors weren't exactly true."

"When are rumors ever exact?" Naruto asked her and she made a face. "I mean it. By the time anyone useful gets hold of it, it's so distorted you can hardly tell up from down."

"Yeah, well thankfully this rumor wasn't a cold trail or we'd have made it too late. The school was attacked by these… _beasts_. I don't know what to call them. I've traveled to the edge of the world and never seen anything like this." She shuddered. "The only thing I know is what these people told me after we managed to get them and their injured aboard and took to the sky."

"And that is?" Naruto asked. The man had come back with their drinks. He handed Naruto a glass of steamed milk and a glass of amber liquid to Arsendibar.

Arsendibar took a swig of the drink and very nearly spat it out again before making a face and swallowing it. "Blech!" she said, "This isn't whisky! This is _cider_!"

The man smirked at his captain. "Cap, you're a terrifying woman at the helm _sober_. Did you think I'd put you under the influence?"

"Everyone's against me!" Arsendibar pouted before chugging the liquid and making a disgusted face as she coughed it down. Naruto laughed and raised his glass in a toast, then drank it down. "Just 'cause I almost hit a mountain…" she snorted, "And _who_ gave the mountain permission to be in _my_ way anyway?" she demanded of no one. "And it was only _once_."

"Once can kill us all, cap'in," said another rather boisterously for talking about dying.

"Ah, shut up you!" Arsendibar groused good naturedly. "Anyway, like I was saying, these people said a woman came to the school requesting shelter from the rain. Said she was really scared, like she was being chased by something or another. They let her in and she told them not to leave her alone because 'it' happens if she was left alone. She asked for a cold bath and specific herbs. When they asked why she needed the stuff she told them she had to drain the impurities from her body or she would turn into a monster. They didn't have the herbs she was asking for, and they thought she was talking from fear so they eased her into a hot bath, fed her a warm meal, and gave her a room to sleep in—alone."

"I take it she turned into a monster?" Naruto asked, feeling worry in the pit of his gut. If they had only three hundred people on the ship from the school, and there were close to sixteen hundred when he'd gone there… He was warned not to make attachments to the people from the schools but Naruto couldn't help but get attached. Were the people he cared about dead…or alive?

"Well, I don't know. Old Cid…" She paused to take both of their glasses and hand them to one of the controllers. "Paw captured the woman, but died for his effort. She's chained up pretty good in the crystal room. She's mad. Keeps jabbering about how she has to 'end the legacy' but won't say anything else. We can't let her hands free or she does some sort of witchery that turns people into those… beasts…"

"I don't get where I come into this picture," Naruto said.

"I was hoping you could get Konoha to take the mass of school people and maybe the mad woman off my hands. We tried to kill her, but anyone who comes within five feet of her seems to become confused and they kill themselves instead. I really don't understand it." Arsendibar sighed and looked directly at Naruto. "I did try taking these people to their own homes but once the hidden village's elder councils heard of what happened, they called their own people cursed and turned them away."

"Can I see her?" Naruto asked. He may as well see what this woman looked like. It would be nice to put a face to his mental image.

"I guess… just don't get too close. Come on, I'll take you down there." Naruto followed Arsendibar to the lift, leaving his little sack on the bridge. He could retrieve it later. They took the lift down several floors into the bowels of the ship and then entered the crystal room. This room was the source of all the energy that powered the ship.

No one really knew exactly how the power source worked. The technology was ancient Arthlezenithite workings. The maintenance platform was a spiral going down into the base of a circular room two stories high. In the center of the room—the very middle, suspended by magic Naruto supposed because no wires held it—was a giant piece of crystal. Electricity crackled inside and out of the crystal. It had never been replaced, so however the Arthlezenithites made it, it was a very lasting source of energy.

Old Cid had found the ship twenty five years ago and gotten it up in the air sixteen years ago. Two years after that he'd found Arsendibar and she said the crystal was as big as she remembered it as a little girl (imagining _her_ as a little girl was amusing to Naruto) so it wasn't like using it seemed to wear it down or anything.

Down at the bottom, a girl was chained to the metal lattice work floor with her arms spread out. Naruto paused, looking over the rail and squinting down at her. The crystal's inner light glowed down on her and he realized he _knew_ who that was.

But how could that be possible? He left Kagome all the way north, in Sound Country. "How long ago was this you picked her up?" He asked Arsendibar.

"A month ago. She hasn't eaten or drank anything since then either, but it's as if something is sustaining her because I would've thought she'd have died of starvation or dehydration by now." Arsendibar admitted.

He practically flew down the platform, barely registering Arsendibar's shout not to get too close. He ignored Arsendibar and fell to his knees by Kagome. She appeared to be peacefully asleep. He could feel her chakra fluctuating as if something was tapping it.

"Naruto!" Arsendibar yelled at him, galloping down the platform. "Get away from her!"

He placed a hand gently on Kagome's shoulder. How could Kagome be capable of something so awful? Something must have been after her; whatever that something was, it had done this terrible thing. He shook her. "Kagome-san?" he asked.

Her eyes fluttered and he was struck near blind with confusion. Hadn't her eyes been dark blue? Maybe he was remembering wrong, but he could've sworn they weren't brown.

"Where… am I?" she asked, as if she'd woken up from a long night's sleep and woke up in a stranger's bed.

"You're on the Argreena, Kagome-san, a Sky Pirate ship. Do you remember me? I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I know I look a lot different now, but you saved our lives on the mountain. Remember?" He was disappointed that no recognition was in her eyes.

"I have… never met you…" she said and then she turned her head away from him, closing her eyes again. "And my name is not Kagome…"

"Of course it is!" Naruto wished she would remember. Maybe she got bumped on the head? "Don't you remember Sasuke? I mean, you brought him back to us and you said you wanted to punch him when you heard his voice. But that's normal; everyone who hears him wants to punch him."

"You did not meet me," she said quietly. "I need… to bathe in cold water… I need to rid my body… of the impurities… or I will turn into a monster."

Naruto stared at Kagome in shock. He turned to glance at Arsendibar; the girl was slumped heavily over the rail, glaring at him but relieved that he hadn't killed himself. "I think we should listen to her this time," he told Arsendibar. "Get a tub of cold water ready." He turned back to Kagome, wishing the school had listened. Was this something to do with summoning?

Damn, where was Kyuubi when Naruto needed answers? Obviously the stupid fox didn't hang around when he could be useful.

"Eighty Gliftrot leaf stems. Four Benibus berries. Four rabbit spines. Twelve robin eggs. Blood of a squirrel. Eighty Gliftrot leaf stems. Four Benibus berries…" she continued to repeat herself over and over. Naruto shouted at Arsendibar to get the things and the girl raced up the platform to the lift.

Naruto got up to go help, but then Kagome's hand grabbed his leg and she stared at him in fear. "Don't leave me alone!" she begged. "It happens if I am left alone after meeting a summoner! I can't take it anymore! I don't want to do it anymore! Don't leave me alone!"

He eased himself back down and said quietly, "I'm not going anywhere… What is it you don't want to do?"

"Kill!" she screamed and then sobbed. "I can't take it anymore! I was just sitting at dinner with papa one day and it happened! It was like this… this _thing_… came from nowhere and latched onto me! Papa couldn't see it, mama couldn't see it, no one could see it but me! It's a creature, a _terrible_ creature, from the other side! Mama and papa and everyone else! No one was safe and then I couldn't see but I could hear the screams. Then… then the Shikigami Twins, my Level Three summons… I don't know what happened to them, but when I woke up they were dead and the creature was gone and my family was dead so I ran. I was so scared I just ran and I ran and I ran and I met another—another like me who could summon only he didn't know it but he took me in and I told him what I did. He was scared and told me to leave and the creature didn't like that so it took me again and when I woke up everyone in the boy's village was dead! Dead! I killed them all! I have to bathe myself of the impurities or the creature will always come back, please don't leave me!"

Naruto took her hand in his. "I'm not going anywhere, Kagome-san," he promised. He didn't want to hear any more. He could tell where it was going. He didn't want to hear that a creature attached itself to her like a leech and used her to kill. How could he believe it? How could he _not_? He'd seen the creature she summoned out of nothing. A massive two-headed dragon wasn't something someone saw every day. What was to say that something else didn't latch on for the ride and make her do bad things?

He thought of all those people who were dead because of this invisible creature only she could see. What was the right course of action? Was it right to let her live when they didn't get an option?

"Naruto!" Arsendibar called to him. He looked over at her. "We've got everything set up outside. We can't do this on the ship." She tossed a key at him, and he blinked at her. "Sorry, mate, but you're on your own for this. I've seen her work her witchery." She smiled hesitantly at him. "Goddesses be with you…" she prayed before heading up the platform. At the top, she called down, "The way to the dock lift is clear. Anything happens to you, we're going to gun her with the cannons."

Naruto turned to Kagome and said, "I'm going to get you to that bath." He unlocked the chains on her wrists and her ankles and helped her up. It was a slow trek up the platform to the lift; he took his time with her, not wanting her to panic. They rode the lift to the fifth floor dock and walked past the various stacks of canned food; the dock was used as storage aboard the Argreena. Once they were on the dock lift, she leaned heavily on him, using him as support.

He dredged his memory for how to operate the dock lift. Cid had only shown him how to do it once and that was quite a while ago. First he had to open the bay doors; that was…the green button? He pushed the green button and heard a grating noise that didn't sound healthy so he stopped pushing the button and the noise stopped. He scratched his chin as he heard Arsendibar's voice through a speaker.

"What the hell are you doing to my ship?" she demanded.

"Breaking it," he said easily, "what does it look like?"

"Sure as hell _sounds_ that way! Flip the yellow switch to open the bay doors." He did, and sure enough the bay doors opened. "Miraculous!" she groused. "Now push the green button to start the lift arm, then use the horizontal lever to direct the lift outside." He did as she said and a few moments later they were as far extended from the ship as the arm would go. "Now use the vertical lever to lower yourself to the mountain top. Do _not_ drop the lever. Be gentle!"

He pushed the lever down slowly and the lift lowered itself. "Like this?" he asked.

"GOOD GODDESS LOOK OUT!" Arsendibar yelled. Naruto looked around, confused, and then saw he was closer to the mountain top than he'd thought. With a loud **_crash_** the lift smashed into the mountain. If it weren't for the rails, he and Kagome would've had lessons in flying again. When Naruto managed to sit up again, he realized the lift was now 'L' shaped when it had been a nice flat surface before.

"That… can't be good." Naruto winced. "Maybe Arsendibar won't see it…"

"I CAN SEE THROUGH THE DAMN CAMERA ON THE LIFT ARM YOU SHIT HEAD!" Arsendibar screamed. "THAT IS GOING TO COST ME A HELL OF A LOT TO REPAIR, IF I CAN EVEN GET PARTS FOR IT! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND PARTS FOR ARTHLEZENITHITE TECHNOLOGY?! IT ISN'T LIKE THERE ARE REPAIR SHOPS FOR THE ONLY ARTHLEZENITHITE AIR SHIP CURRENTLY IN EXISTENCE! I HAVE TO FIND ALL MY PARTS IN RUINS!"

Naruto ignored Arsendibar. She would yell at him later even if he did listen. He looked around for Kagome. She had climbed off the lift and onto the mountain top. She was throwing the blood, berries, spines, eggs, and leaves into the cold water and then yanked off the pajamas she must have been given by the school when she went to stay there. She stripped completely bare before immersing herself in the wooden tub.

He was surprised to see the water begin to bubble as though boiling. Her head emerged and she shivered, sitting in the high tub. Naruto clamored out of the newly shaped lift and approached her. It was hard to hold in his breakfast when he saw the mess she was sitting in. How could that bathe impurities? She was sitting with four meaty rabbit spines and twelve cracked open robin eggs (half formed birds floating about), not to mention the squirrel blood.

The liquid was starting to turn into the consistency of ink, and after that it began bubbling like tar but her lips were blue. He looked at her and stared at her hair. The black color was running off as if she'd dyed her hair with Kool-Aid.

"Mother Aretha, please take the hand of the taint and remove it from my body. Mother Ardela, please take the hand of taint and remove it from my body. Mother Araya, please, I beg of you, this is not what I wanted for. Mother Arnina, I was jealous. Great Goddesses, I have been an awful daughter. Please forgive me my sins. Please forgive me for succumbing to darkness." Kagome cried.

The liquid in the tub now had the consistency of tar and her hair was completely white. Her previous tan was gone, replaced with milky whiteness. The color in her eyes was gone. She looked like a ghost sitting in a bath of tar. And then a second being lifted itself out of the tub. At first it looked more like a person who was covered in tar, but then rather than the tar wiping away, the tar gained color until it looked exactly as Kagome had before she went into the tub—brown eyes, black hair, tan skin.

She didn't see the creature or its evil smile as it cocked its head at her. She kept praying to the Goddesses. Naruto darted forward and grabbed Kagome under the arms, pulling her out of the tub just before the creature's tentacle-like arms could reach her. She screamed and struggled to get away from him.

"Stop it, Kagome!" he said, not bothering with formalities. Doc would scold him for 'strenuous activity' after she'd just told him not to do stuff or he'd tear his stitches. He could feel stickiness already on his shoulder.

"It's you," she sobbed. "I cannot see anything at all!"

"Yeah, it's me," he said, grasping her firmly around the waist and pulling her away from the inky blobby tar creature. It had a head, but its body wasn't human. Tar-tentacles came out of the tub again and the creature lifted itself out and plopped on the ground. It oozed toward them.

"NARUTO! RUN THE HELL AWAY FROM THAT BASTARD! WE'LL BLAST THE SHIT RIGHT OFF THE MOUNTAIN!"

"NO!" Naruto yelled, hoping Arsendibar would hear him. He wasn't too far from the communicator was he? "If you blast the mountain, it'll crumble down on Konoha! In case you didn't notice, my whole ultimate goal is to protect my people! You know, the damn Hokage job?!"

"THEN WHAT THE HELL DO YOU SUGGEST WE DO? LET IT EAT YOU AND THE GIRL? I'VE GOT A GIRL HERE WHO SAYS SHE KNOWS YOU. SHE WANTS TO TALK!"

"GREAT!" He yelled. "Let's just stand around and chat a while, and maybe if we talk long enough, the bastard ink blob will get bored and simply DIE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO SAY AT A TIME LIKE THIS?"

"STOOP YULLING ET ME, MYRYN!" That wasn't Arsendibar, and Naruto knew immediately from the voice who it was. She had the same accent as those of the Zodiac Mountains, and she still couldn't properly say 'moron' (even though it was her favorite word after hearing him say it).

"SEXY, I REALLY DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" Naruto yelled at the girl. A tentacle shot out at him, formed a very sharp point of spine bones, and he had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit by it. This, of course, meant taking Kagome with him. She yelped and held onto him, pressing onto his painfully shot shoulder—which sucked pretty bad.

Sexy said, "ZE SING EES EFTER ZE GURL!"

"I KNOW THAT, AND YOU KNOW THAT, AND IT KNOWS THAT, AND SHE KNOWS THAT!" Naruto yelled, barely managing to dodge another tentacle. "BUT I AM NOT GIVING HER TO THAT BLOB! SHE DIDN'T ATTACK YOU GUYS! IT DID!"

"ZAT I CAN SEE!" Sexy yelled. "ZAT EES MY PUINT. LEED ZE SING AVAY FRUM ZE MUNTIN ENT ARSINDIBUR KEEN SHOOT EET DOWN!"

"HOW THE BLOODY HELL CAN YOU SCREW UP MY NAME SO BAD?!" Arsendibar demanded.

"NOT THE TIME TO BE YELLING ABOUT PRONOUNCIATION!" Naruto growled. That time, he was hit by the tentacle on the side of his stomach. It ripped his shirt and tore into his flesh with the spine bones but at least the wound wasn't deep. Damn it, where was Kyuubi when he was needed? Wasn't he always somewhere or another to bug Naruto?

And then Naruto had an idea. He'd created a fifty foot vine-tree in the prison yard; he could do something to trap the creature, right? He dodged again, but the creature had cornered him. He shoved Kagome behind him as she cried, "What's going on? What's happening? Why are we stopping? Did we lose it?"

"WHY ARE YOU STOPPING?!" Arsendibar screamed. "RUN UP THE MOUNTAIN SIDE! YOU CAN DO THAT!"

"THE LAST TIME I TRIED RUNNING UP A DAMN MOUNTAIN, IT THREW ME! I DON'T FEEL LIKE SPLATTERING TODAY!" Naruto yelled, remembering when the mountain had rejected his chakra as he attempted to save Kagome.

"NAA'UTO! DO SOMESING!" Sexy screeched.

"SHUT UP AND LET ME CONCENTRATE!" Naruto yelled. The blobby creature's human head was grinning rather maniacally. Naruto thought about Gaara's sand and how he could make a shell out of the sand. That was what he wanted to do. He wanted to make a shell out of plants. He gripped hold of his chakra and sent it into the ground. The mountain began to tremble and then moss grew out of the ground and started to cover the creature. Soon it was completely covered and Naruto heaved in exhaustion and slumped against the mountain. Even Kyuubi's reserve of chakra was nearly gone.

But something still had to be done with the creature. He might've gotten it covered in a shell of plants, but that wasn't enough. He took hold of Kagome's arm, limping with her toward the lift of the ship. He lifted her over the bent and broken rail.

"NAA'UTO B'HEND YEZ!" Sexy screamed at the same time Arsendibar screeched, "LOOK OUT NARUTO!"

Naruto felt the tentacle pierce his stomach and then the creature let go of Naruto. Naruto sent what was left of Kyuubi's chakra into the ground. The plant shell hadn't stopped the creature, but it had slowed it, so that was all he had to do and maybe they could devise another plan in the meantime? The plants burst out of the ground and trapped the creature again. Naruto crawled over the rail, feeling blood pooling in his mouth. Man, he was really in pain at the moment. Who knew a rabbit spine through the gut would hurt so much?

He crawled toward the control panel and shoved the vertical lever upright. Kagome screamed in fright as the lift shot upward like a speeding arrow and crashed into the lift arm. One of the lift arms nearly broke off. It seemed it would break any minute now. Damn it, Arsendibar was going to be pissed at all the damage he was doing. He was more careful as he swung the horizontal lever, but then there was an angry grating sound from the gears of the lift arm. The ship wanted to stay where it was but the lift arm couldn't go to it.

Naruto crawled over to the edge to find what he'd already guessed was the problem. The inky blobby creature had tentacles attached to the lift and it was stronger than it looked. He looked back at the ship. Whatever technology kept the ship invisible wasn't working at the moment. The ship had appeared in the sky, a massive, towering structure. Konoha would go mad at the sudden appearance of the foreign vessel. They were close enough to the ship that they might be able to jump into the bay area.

"Arsendibar," he said into the communicator. Crewmen were gathered at the door of the bay. Arsendibar probably sent them down to get him and Kagome immediately.

"Naruto, I'm having a hell of a time trying to keep this ship in the sky. Your hell spawn is trying to drag us down!" She growled. "And I can't afford to get closer to the mountain."

"Arsendi…" he coughed up blood and spat it on the lift, "Arsendibar, I'm going to release the cables. That's these four buttons here, beneath these glass panels right?"

"Don't you dare go all noble on me," Arsendibar said. "Sky Pirates save themselves first, remember?"

"You forget," he chuckled humorlessly though the action made him spit up more blood and it really hurt! "I'm not really a Sky Pirate." He ignored both her and Sexy as they screamed through the communicator for him to stop. Naruto forced himself up even though he could feel the wound in his gut tearing open farther. He went over to Kagome and grabbed her by the arm. Her eyes were still blind. He hoped she would make it because he didn't have the energy to throw her.

"Kagome, you're going to have to jump to the ship," Naruto told her.

"Jump? You're raving mad! I can't see a thing!" she said though her words showed only fear.

"You won't need to see anything," Naruto told her. "I'll guide you to the rail and help you up on it. The distance is only seven or eight feet and there are people who can hopefully catch you."

"Hopefully?" She sighed, "I guess this is my fate." Naruto agreed. If the Goddesses felt she should die, they would make her fall short. He was glad to put her fate in someone else's hands even though that seemed so cowardly. He led her to the rail by the ship bay.

"Here's the rail," he said, putting her hands on it. "Hold onto it and climb over so your feet are on the platform. When you're ready, jump as high and far as you can." He looked at the crewmen on the other side. "CATCH HER!" he yelled and they got ready to try catching her.

The groaning stopped and the lift started moving again toward the ship again. Naruto hastily stopped the movement two feet from the ship. The creature landed on the lift with a gloopy **_plop_** noise. "JUMP!" he yelled at the girl. She screamed and then jumped toward the ship into the awaiting arms of the crewmen.

Naruto turned his attention to the control panel, smashing his fist through one of the glass boxes and into the release button for the cables. Cable one let go with a whip sound and the entire lift shuddered. The creature glared spitefully at Naruto. He glared right back. "I'm NOT letting you get her!" he yelled at the creature.

It seemed to realize he could keep it from her and came after him, oozing toward him and preparing more tentacles. Four of them shot toward him, shooting through his back and out of his front.

"NARUTO!!!" Arsendibar screamed.

Sexy screamed, "NAA'UTO!!!"

He could hear their wails even as blood surged out of his mouth and sprayed onto the communicator. "I – am – not – dead – yet." He mumbled. "I won't… let you get her…" He smashed his fist down on another and another of the boxes and buttons beneath. Glass shards were in his fist and he knew his fingers were all broken. The tentacles of goop and rabbit spine were dragged out of his body and he slumped over the control panel. The creature turned its attention back toward the ship. The last connected cable was on the broken arm and the entire thing was swaying terribly from the weight.

"Over… my… dead… body," he spat hatefully and smashed the last glass case. The cable released and the creature flung a tentacle up toward the lift arm, catching it. Still, the straw had broken the camel's back and the creature was falling just like Naruto was.

He was amazed at how peaceful falling was. The creature wasn't having as peaceful a fall as Naruto. It was screeching piteously, though Naruto did not pity the thing.

He found himself grinning as he looked up at the head of the Fourth. He reached a hand out toward it. "I guess… neither of us got our dream, dad," Naruto whispered. "You wanted to be a Summoner, and I wanted to be Hokage… Maybe… there's just not enough time in the world." He was going to crash soon, and that would be the end. When he woke up that morning, he had no idea he would die before dinner time.

He had one last, very random thought before he succumbed to pain. _Hinata-chan really needs to see a doctor about that fainting thing… Every time she sees me, she does it._ Everything went black after that, and barely a moment later the platform crashed into the Hokage's back yard, followed by the gooey creature which splattered across the ground and then soaked into the soil leaving behind egg shells, half formed birds, and rabbit spines.

* * *

**Thanks to: **demon prince-sesshoumaru (no KagoSasori here, sorry), Ami-chan (technically it'd be boyfriend/boyfriend...or would technical be boyfriend/girlfriend? I don't know either), Arcander (I can't believe you did that... stalker...), supersillee06 (maybe it's an actual person he created?), .-LM Kitsune-. (I laughed too), Dark Inu Fan (Always will do my best to please), zoey tamagachi (they'll have a field day when they find out Naruto is dead and was masquerading as Sasuke's girlfriend, worried?), Natsumi Tsuchi-Oookami (not many challenge a dead woman), Ichihime (talents do dead people a lot of good), Rebel Reader Bitch (see you later?), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (you asked for plot, I gave it to you), Dark Ravie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 44 after I posted chapter 45. 

ANSWER: Someone wanted Naraku to be a good guy so I had to change a few things. Naruto accidentally fell in the process. Not my fault!

_Once upon a time, we had a lot to fight for, we had a dream, we had a plan... (and you reviewed)..._


	46. Unbelievable Story

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 46: Unbelievable Story

Temari really liked the temperature of Konoha in the summertime. The entire city was the _perfect_ temperature, unlike summertime in Suna, which was three-fourths of the year long. The temperature in Suna in the summer was always hot and dry and not to mention very _sandy_. Even Gaara had days when he would complain about all the sand, which made Temari wonder why they bothered staying in Suna. 

Really, Temari and Kankuro were only doing what their youngest sibling wanted to, and he wanted to stay. He'd had some really strange transformation after he met that Uzumaki kid and realized he wasn't immortal or invincible. Before meeting Uzumaki, it was almost like Gaara had no care in the world that his recklessness could get him killed, and nothing Temari or Kankuro said to him would get through.

Now, Gaara was taking his medicine again and he was more than careful with the decisions he made every day. Temari really owed Uzumaki thanks for that, but at the same time, she wondered if they might've done the smart thing and defected from Suna if Uzumaki hadn't shown Gaara such incredible strength and devotion to his own city. It wasn't that Suna was a bad hidden city, but they _were_ pretty poor for a hidden city. Out of all the major hidden cities, Suna received the least amount of traffic.

The cause of that was probably because no one really wanted to trek across the desert to request missions. Most of the city's revenue was reliant on the glass makers and merchants. If it weren't for them, Suna would've withered long ago.

But Konoha had to be Temari's favorite place. She'd never been in it during the winter, but she'd seen pictures of the snow and it looked so beautiful… She wanted to be in Konoha during the winter… Unfortunately wintertime in Konoha was the rainy season for Suna, and when the rains started, _no one_ left the city.

She smiled as the city itself finally came into view as she and the three-man guard Gaara had sent along with her crested the final hill between Suna and Konoha. She squinted her eyes at the city's main gate. She couldn't see the escort there yet. Who would it be this time? Most of the times she'd been sent as Ambassador for Gaara in the past year, her escort had been that pineapple boy. He was so lazy, she felt like time actually _slowed_ around him (which was actually kind of fascinating in a really disturbing way).

"Finally," Temari breathed to her companions, "I'll be able to get through a whole day without emptying sand out of my underwear!"

They chuckled and the small group continued on their way to Konoha. When they got there, they were rather surprised. There wasn't anyone waiting for them, and the two shinobi stationed at the gate looked really surprised to see them. "We were not expected," one of Temari's guards muttered.

Temari frowned and marched over to the Konoha gate guards. "Hey, where's my escort?" she demanded.

"Ah, we weren't aware we were expecting anyone from Sunagakure, miss," one guard muttered.

Temari felt herself quickly growing annoyed. "Well, call up the Hokage then, and inform her I, Temari of Sunagakure, will be there shortly. Don't make me wait here longer than I have to!"

"Right," the second guard hastily grabbed his phone receiver, picking it up and dialing a sequence of numbers. After what seemed like an incredibly lengthy amount of time, he finally spoke, "Ah, yes, hello Shizune-san… Yes, of course, it is important… No I would not call if it were not…"

Incredibly annoyed, Temari had to reign in the urge to snatch the phone away from the man and demand to see the Hokage. She had to remind herself that he _wasn't_ Gaara, and she probably wouldn't get away with her usual testy behavior. She was representing her hidden city as Ambassador; she needed to keep her temper under control.

"Right, Shizune-san, I do understand the situation…" the guard said, "But I have – um – Temari of Sunagakure here. She wishes to see Hokage-sama… I know, I wasn't told we would be visited by Sunagakure either." After a much longer pause, he said, "Perhaps someone could come down and escort them to the hotel?... Thank you, Shizune-san." He hung up and Temari's foot tapped impatiently on the ground.

_I cannot beat the answers out of him,_ she reminded herself. She had to practically repeat it like a mantra in her mind for it to really calm her down. "Well?" she demanded.

"I am very sorry for this inconvenience, but Hokage-sama is currently unavailable. Shizune-san will be sending someone momentarily who can escort you to the hotel. You will be able to get some food and rest, and the moment Hokage-sama is available, you will be informed." She was told.

Temari frowned, "Fine," she said, knowing her voice was rather clipped. She was very irritated, in a way she'd been many times before, except this time she couldn't take that anger out on someone. _Incompetent Konohagakurians!_ She thought, since there was no way it was Gaara's fault. He was meticulous about everything, and forgot nothing.

Due to Konoha's incredibly inconvenient idiocy, she ended up waiting thirty minutes at the gate for an escort to take her to the hotel she and other foreign dignitaries generally stayed in, though she could've found the place on her own after staying there so many times. She watched as the green-haired girl walked toward them, a scowl on her face as if she'd just received the most annoying assignment ever.

Temari gave her a scowl in return. "Are you my escort?" She demanded.

"_Yes_," she said, scowling. "As if I want to be! Me, a Jounin, given an assignment that should be _at most_ a Chunin level one! Heavens help me if I smash something! _ESCORT SOMEONE?!_"

"Shen-san," one of the guards said coolly, "don't get upset now."

"_Shut up_, Glazden!" she snapped. "I didn't work as hard as I did to make it where I am so that I could be given petty escort assignments! It's bad enough my damn brother keeps acting like he doesn't know me, and yet he makes it _quite_ clear that I can't go on missions—then gets me assigned to a _teaching_ position! Me! Never _mind_ that I could probably kick his ass _any_ day."

The guard smirked, "Well, if you can't do the small missions, what makes you think you could handle a big one in the field?"

"_Handle_?" she smashed her open palm on the stand the two guards sat in by the gate, leaving spider-web cracks in the wood. "I can handle _any_thing!" She then turned around, grabbed Temari by the wrist, and started to _drag_ her. Temari was so surprised that for a moment she did nothing but gape as she was dragged along.

Finally she remembered her own temper and she yanked herself free. "Just who do you think you are? You _will_ not handle me in such a fashion!"

"_I_ am your _escort_ and I'm taking you to the damn hotel, so move your scrawny little ass!" she pointed to the road ahead, "_Before_ I move it _for_ you!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Temari snapped, her temper flaring out with the tasty kick of irritable chakra. The two girls began advancing on each other, both assured they would come out the victor, but a strong hand gripped each of their shoulders and pushed them away. A boy stepped between them both, obviously not caring that doing so could get him into a world of pain he'd never known.

"_Back off_, Sasuke!" the girl growled, and Temari looked at the newcomer. Every inch of visible skin was littered in 'x' shaped scars, including a scar extending from the bottom of his earlobes, crossing on the bridge of his nose, and then extending across his forehead and into his hair, which had been buzzed off, though he seemed to be growing it back out since the short black strands were about an inch long and slightly uneven. Despite that, he was an attractive boy in the same aloof manner that Temari knew attracted women to Gaara. He had a sort of 'untouchable' attractiveness to him. People weren't likely going to openly go after Gaara, but in secret they would sigh with want.

"Stop it, Fuyumi," the boy, Sasuke, said. Temari recalled the Chunin exams and realized this was probably the same boy Gaara had been so excited and eager to battle: the Uchiha brat. Word of Sasuke Uchiha's incredible accomplishments and successful mission rates had reached even the secluded Sunagakure. "Go help Hokage-sama. She could probably use another medic-nin."

Fuyumi dragged her shoulder away from Sasuke and glared at him for a second. "What did you _do_? Get kicked out or something?"

"Yes, now _go_," Sasuke said calmly. For a moment, Temari thought the girl wouldn't leave (she wouldn't have minded kicking the girl's ass if she did stay for a fight) but then the girl turned on her heel, her thick ankle-length braid swaying on her back as if to show her irritation. When she had disappeared around a corner, Sasuke released his grip on Temari's shoulder and backed away from her, glancing at her with sharp, watchful black eyes. "I apologize for her. She doesn't get out of Konoha often; I believe she's feeling claustrophobic because of it. If you will follow me," he never smiled once. He simply turned on his heel and started away.

Temari was stunned; Konoha was a huge city. How could anyone feel claustrophobic inside its walls? There was so much to do in Konoha. They had so many stores, Temari doubted she'd ever be able to visit them all in her short lifespan. They had restaurants and clubs and places devoted to specific events such as plays and operas and musicals and all manner of other activities that civilians and shinobi alike enjoyed to partake in during their down-time.

Suna didn't have all that. They had a few grocery stores and a few restaurants and one seamstress who imported cloth and tailored clothes. The rest of their shops were glass-related or else military related items. Every day during the summer, the streets throughout Konoha was littered in street vendors who sold their wares from their wagons, but there wasn't really all that much to look at from those traveling merchants and they didn't usually stay long. They would sell whatever goods they had to other merchants or else to the pawn shops (who would then sell it to other merchants) and purchase a shipment of glass goods to travel to other countries and make their fortune.

The only activities Suna had to offer were the Sun Festival every Saturday from eleven AM until two PM (the hottest part of the day) where all purchases over a certain amount no matter what they were would be fifty percent off (even street vendors participated) and if you wanted to do so you could picnic by the watering hole. Other than that, Suna had nothing.

That was why she was so confused. Claustrophobic in Konoha? It seemed a ludicrous idea. With a glance at her guards, she followed Sasuke. After a hasty walk, they arrived at the hotel and Sasuke turned into the door. He walked up to the counter. "What rooms are available for Sunagakure?" Sasuke asked the attendant.

She smiled flirtatiously at Sasuke and Temari found her anger growing again. Was she wrong about her opinion of Sasuke? Was he really like Gaara? Or was he going to _flirt on the job_? Sure, Temari had done it, but if this seemingly aloof person who obviously had the personality of a lone wolf started flirting, Temari was going to march straight back to Sunagakure and kick her brother into shape. _He_ would _not_ be some sort of shameless playboy!

And just why did it bother her if Gaara was one? Kankuro flirted with girls on the job all the time and Temari didn't lift a brow at it. Temari forced herself to stay silent. Why couldn't the stupid lazy pineapple head boy be her escort?

"Of course, we have rooms available for Sunagakure dignitaries, Uchiha-sama."

Sasuke glared coldly at her, "I wasn't asking if you _do_ have rooms available. I was asking _which ones_ are."

The girl flushed and quickly said, "Nineteen, twenty, and twenty three are available. Twenty one and twenty two are being renovated."

"Perfect. Give me the key for nineteen." Sasuke demanded. Within moments, they were following Sasuke up a flight of stairs and Sasuke unlocked the door for them and let them in. He stood in the doorway as they all removed their small travel back packs, and Temari took off her heavy chakra fan.

"Just curious," Temari said, "but what is the Hokage so busy with? She usually sees me immediately."

Sasuke said, "Magical flying metal donkeys," rather randomly and his lips quirked into a wry smile.

"Magical _what_?" Temari asked incredulously. What was he talking about?

"Magical flying metal donkeys," he repeated slowly for her benefit. Before she could demand what he meant, he tossed her the key to the room. "Someone will inform you when the Hokage is ready to see you." And he left and closed the door behind him.

Temari turned to her guards who were looking as confused as she felt. "I'll never understand Konohagakurians," she told them, and they agreed heartily. She went over to the window and looked out of it, very confused. From the window, she had a good view of the academy district. There was a group of people sitting under the bridge, she noticed. She checked the time without really thinking all that much about it. 12:58. She hoped the Hokage didn't take too long. Gaara wanted her back as soon as possible so she could greet the Zodiac Genin who would be taking the Chunin exam, as she was the only known Suni who spoke their language and most of them weren't very fluent at speaking common or Suni.

"Metal donkeys that fly?" Temari thought aloud. "I knew Konoha was _crazy_ but I didn't think it was this bad…"

Her guards sat down on the floor and attempted to make themselves comfortable. She found herself walking over to the bed with a sigh. She figured she may as well get some rest. Four days of walking through the desert was gruesome, and with any luck, by morning she would be back on the road.

A knock at her door roused her. Her guards were instantly alert—not that she couldn't handle herself, but that was what they were there for. Temari sat up as one guard went to answer the door. Once it was opened, it revealed lazy pineapple head boy. He clucked his tongue before drawling, "This is so troublesome."

She quickly went into the bathroom and checked to be sure her face and hair were presentable. Her shirt was a mesh-knit shirt beneath a red silk shirt so tight on her she doubted she'd ever get wrinkles on it, and her skirt was sturdy, non-wrinkly black leather. Her mesh-knit leggings were still firmly in place thanks to the garter belt, but for just waking up, she was surprised she wasn't as freakish as a zombie.

She stood and walked to where one of her guards had put her fan in the corner, pulling the heavy chakra weapon onto her back, fastening the strap securely. She looked at her guards as they silent questioned if she needed company. With a wave of her hand, they stepped aside and she exited the room, glancing at her watch again. It was almost eight PM. As if to echo the fact that she hadn't eaten since the dried sausages that morning, her stomach growled.

Shikamaru clucked his tongue as he led Temari down the hall and the stairs, out of the hotel. Her guards would stay within the vicinity of the hotel, which meant the hotel bar or else in the room itself.

"Weren't you just here?" Shikamaru inquired of her.

"I suppose I was," Temari said, wondering how it was possible that the last minute felt like thirty while walking in his presence. She wanted to pick up the pace and get there faster, but he didn't appear to care that she was anxious to get this visit over with and head back to her brother.

After what felt like an _eternity_ walking next to the slow boy, Temari's earlier annoyance came back. She snapped at him, "_Move faster_!" He paused in his step, surprised at her outburst, and then smiled ruefully at her before ambling along again at a slightly faster pace.

"Troublesome woman," he called her.

"Lazy Chunin," she retorted. "If you would just get off your rear, you _know_ you could be a Jounin already."

"I don't have that kind of drive for success," he responded easily. "I don't have to be a Jounin to find a nice, demure wife who will give me a son and a daughter and grow old with me."

"Then why did you bother with the Chunin exam?" she asked, still frustrated that time was somehow going slower than it was meant to do. She swore if it went any slower, it would go backwards.

"Ino beat me up until I agreed to do it." Temari's jaw dropped. He had quit their battle in the Chunin exams and still made Chunin, so to find out he didn't really want to participate in the first place (and then somehow made the grade) she found herself growing irked. Was there anything this lazy boy was incapable of?

Well, obviously he was incapable of being a man, since he let a girl beat him up.

He was so frustrating…

Her stomach growled again, none too quietly. She felt heat rush to her face as a bag of cookies was suddenly pressed into her hands. He _heard_ it. How embarrassing. "Eat," he said. The question was, why did he keep a bag of cookies in his nin-kit? She silently obeyed the command.

_ARGH!!_ He was so _frustrating_!

xXx

Tsunade heaved a rather exaggerated sigh as she finally settled into her seat behind her desk for what felt like the first time in days. It had been an awful week for everyone in Konoha as they feared attack from a giant metal object that had suddenly appeared in the sky and then disappeared just as suddenly.

They had searched everywhere for the metal object, but it was nowhere to be found. Tension had built even worse as Naruto was brought to the hospital by Lee. Naruto was injured so badly he would've died if it weren't for Lee's quick feet.

From the way Naruto was dressed when Lee brought the boy in and from the ID badge in one of the nin-kits on Naruto, Tsunade could accurately guess the boy was parading as his Amunet Reiss, who he'd made up while going to the Sneak-Thief Mastery School as one of his five female identities. She wasn't sure why he was disguised, but she could only really find out when he woke. 

Naruto had five nasty holes right through his torso, a small hole in his shoulder, several broken ribs, a bad cut on his side, and the bones of his left hand were badly shattered. It was a miracle he was even alive, but whatever attacked him didn't hit his vitals, and during surgery, Tsunade had scrapped strange black ink from his insides. She'd also taken pieces of rabbit spine from his gut. Just looking at the wounds, Tsunade couldn't help but think whatever attacked him hit each spot on his body _purposefully_ which made her think 'medic-nin'.

The attacker had to have known just where to hit so no vitals would be hit. Either they had no intention to kill him, or they were hoping to cause him the most suffering they possibly could. The hits were simply too strategically placed to be accidental misses.

And if the metal object over the mountain and the attack on Naruto weren't enough to put everyone on edge (she had to face the truth: most people didn't give a damn about Naruto), then the great big metal _whatever-it-was_ that landed behind Hokage tower certainly was. Tsunade had found fresh rabbit spines by the wreckage, which only led her to assume that somehow Naruto's injuries were related to the metal wreck, and her gut instinct told her the wreck was related to the appearance of the metal object in the sky.

Monday afternoon, evening, and Tuesday morning was spent in the operating room where Tsunade had insisted on taking over Naruto's care herself. She had lost her brother and her lover long ago after she gave them her family's heirloom necklace. She wasn't going to lose Naruto too, at least not if she could help it, even if she couldn't blame the curse of the necklace on his death by now. But that was the point; she wasn't going to _let_ him die!

His friends were _all_ panicking. Since Lee was the one who found Naruto (he said he found him in the mountains when he was taking a youthful stroll), all of Naruto's friends quickly learned of what happened and they practically crowded the hospital, waiting for news on Naruto's condition.

Sakura had freaked out to the point where she had to be given medication to calm down; when the drugs had taken effect, Sasuke sat with her in his arms in the waiting area because despite the drugs, she still would not leave the hospital. The others had been mostly calm, able to sit patiently or if not (in the case of Lee and Kiba) they paced and wore a hole in the floor, but were quiet about it. Ino had cried and Hinata actually had to be hospitalized because she stopped breathing due to a stress attack.

Iruka, Kakashi, and Jiraiya had all expressed concern (Tsunade knew it was greatly affecting Jiraiya) but they'd spent their time at the bar across the street from the hospital. Iruka refused to go to the academy district and work until he knew Naruto was okay (but he admittedly couldn't bear watching Naruto's friends waiting-room-rituals). Kakashi didn't have any work to do with Sakura and Sasuke glaring daggers at him when he merely suggested training to keep their minds off Naruto's operation. Jiraiya was technically retired from the military (though he still took on missions when it tickled him to do so, and he still obeyed Tsunade's orders—usually—if she asked him to do something) so he also didn't have any work to do.

At first, Naruto was simply unconscious, but the medicine they'd given him to keep him that way during surgery had put him in a brief coma. Tsunade got reamed by the Elder Council for taking time from her Kage duties to operate on Naruto, but she ignored the reprimand. She wouldn't have done it any other way if she had to do it all over again (hopefully she would never have to do it over again, because it was the most awful surgery she'd ever had).

While in a coma, Naruto was indeed healing, but she'd worried he wouldn't wake up. When he'd fallen into a coma, his previously calm friends had begun demanding answers. Why, what, _how_? Tuesday afternoon was spent constantly flitting between Kage duties, checking on Naruto, and _keeping his friends busy_, which turned out to be a full time job. Shizune had stockpiled community service jobs for Naruto and Konohamaru to do to make up for their mischievous ways, but that pile was gone by Tuesday night, and Shizune had given that pile of jobs a timeframe of a full month to be completed.

By Wednesday morning, Sakura was refusing to leave Naruto's side, and Sasuke… well, Tsunade wasn't really sure if he was using the whole situation to avoid going to work at Steinem's or if he was seriously concerned, but he also refused to leave the hospital. The two sat in Naruto's hospital room, watching him sleep and listening to the noise of the hospital equipment constantly beeping. From the way Sasuke sat with his arms wrapped around Sakura and his brow creased just a tiny smidge, Tsunade liked to think he was really worried.

It was such a shame; Tsunade heard Sasuke had a girlfriend now, but she'd not seen a speck of the girl throughout the entire ordeal. She hoped that the attack on Naruto and Sasuke's display of care for Sakura's well-being hadn't dragged Sasuke apart from his girlfriend. It was Sasuke who had kept on Sakura's case, making her eat when she showed no desire to do anything but stare in terror at her comatose teammate.

Thursday around midnight, Naruto had drifted up out of his coma and back to the living world and of course the little brat immediately decided to prank everyone around him by pretending to have amnesia. Everyone had believed him, including Tsunade. When he revealed the joke, Sakura nearly strangled the boy. Of course, Naruto really was the only person in the world who could wake up from a coma and immediately prank everyone he knew.

Tsunade was glad he was getting better. She thought it was due to the fox's influence, but his wounds were healing very fast. By Thursday evening, just before he'd woken up, his wounds looked like they were two weeks old already. Basically, everything about Thursday was tiring. Tsunade hadn't had a good night's sleep since Sunday, and now it was Friday.

Even though Naruto had just woken up from sleep, Tsunade made him stay put in bed Thursday night. She didn't want him exerting himself and tearing the stitches, or bumping his hand, which had also required major surgery to get the bones back in proper place. Beside that, he'd nearly died so she couldn't very well let him get up and start running about, could she? She'd be a terrible grandmother if she did that!

Oh, good heavens… she did _not_ just think of herself as that brat's grandmother, did she? Yes, it appeared she did… She just needed a good sleep and things would start making sense again…

Of course, early that morning, Naruto got bored with sitting in a bed in the hospital and so he attempted to break out of it. By the time Tsunade was called to the hospital, Naruto had to be tied down with strength and chakra juicers. Tsunade thought Sakura or Sasuke might've kept him from being bored… if he hadn't made them so mad with his amnesia prank that they decided to go home for the evening (Sasuke apparently stayed at Sakura's).

Tsunade basically spent all day taking care of Naruto and dragging out his story of what happened to him. He'd spun a wild and completely _unbelievable_ tale about Kagome Higurashi, Sky Pirates and the Sky Pirate ship named "Argreena", the Seduction-Infiltration Mastery School being attacked, an "inky tar monster", and a masked figure who could only be "Arzyle-sama" on a "magical flying metal donkey" who gave him a magical drink that would make him heal faster and then must've brought him to the hospital.

After spending all day dragging the unbelievable tale out of Naruto, Tsunade was wondering if Naruto might've been deluded or something. She'd tried to tell Naruto that he was brought to the hospital by Lee, and that he'd been found in the mountains, but he wouldn't believe it. He was firm in his belief that he had released the cables on what sounded to her like an elevator and fell toward the ground, and that Arzyle (whoever Arzyle was) had flown his magical flying metal donkey—_spectacularly_, he constantly added—and saved his life.

She'd managed to get Naruto's unbelievable story, but now before she could compare facts to anything real (come to think of it, that metal wreck _could_ have been some sort of industrial elevator on the metal object in the sky…) she had to see an unexpected guest. She couldn't even _begin_ to imagine why Gaara had to send someone, _least_ of all without informing Tsunade of their arrival ahead of time.

A knock on her door presented itself and she looked at it wearily. She was about to ask Shizune to open the door when she recalled the woman wasn't even in Hokage tower at the moment. She was working with a group of nurses to move Naruto out of the intensive care unit and into a regular hospital room.

Heaving a sigh, she pulled herself out of her chair and walked to the door. She _could_ have just said 'enter' and let them open the door themselves, but she felt that would be rude so she got up and answered the door herself. She wanted to retire… really, she did, but she couldn't until Naruto was Hokage. She'd promised herself she would see him there before she retired.

She smiled in greeting to Temari. "Thank you, Shikamaru," she told the boy. "Naruto is being moved to a regular hospital room. In an hour or so, you and your friends should be able to go in and see him." The truth was, if Naruto was a normal boy, he wouldn't be moved to a normal hospital wing. However, he was healing as fast as the demon inside him could heal him, so he could be treated differently.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Shikamaru replied and he turned and sauntered away. Tsunade stepped aside to let Temari in.

"Now, Temari-san, what does the Kazekage have to say to me?" She pulled a seat up to her desk for Temari and offered it to the girl. Before sitting down, Temari took a scroll from the nin-kit at her waist, handing it to Tsunade. Tsunade opened it.

_"Dear Hokage-sama,"_ Gaara wrote, _"I am pleased to inform you that Sunagakure now has the ability to hold the Chunin exams. We will be holding our first Chunin exam in September. We understand Konoha has the upcoming Chunin exams in August and hope that those who will not be ready for the August exams will consider joining the September Sunagakure Chunin exams. Due to the inordinate amount of flooding in West and South Sands during the wet season, we invite those who would join Sunagakure's first Chunin exams to come as soon as possible, to avoid the rains. Please bear in mind should you choose to come, you will be asked to remain until February due to the flooding. Thank you, and we hope to see you at the Chunin exams. Cordially, Godaime Kazekage Gaara Felwin."_

Tsunade looked up, hoping she managed to look surprised. Naruto had been his usual self while on his 'training trip' with Jiraiya and stuck his nose into business that wasn't his own, and thus he and Jiraiya ended up accidentally aiding the agreement between the people of the Zodiac Mountains and Sunagakure. Naruto really was a pretty amazing kid, because he screwed up so much that every so often, those screw-ups turned out for the best. "Chunin exams?" she inquired.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Temari said, "And Gaara has a personal request for you."

"And that is?"

"He said to please send someone tolerable. He said he has enough idiots to deal with; he doesn't need another one."

Tsunade grinned at the request. "Sounds reasonable." She admitted.

"I also have a request… Tsunade-sama…" Temari began.

"Mm?" Tsunade asked, leaning back in her own chair and glancing at the woman across from her.

"Gaara has become rather," she couldn't finish, mostly due to the fact that the doors on Tsunade's office burst open and Naruto rushed in, a few disheveled nurses following him. Naruto was still wearing the hospital robes, so Tsunade had no doubt that his backside would be fairly visible through the slits where the ties met. He had a linen bandage wrapped around his head at a tilted angle so it covered his "Kyuubi-eye". Tsunade remembered being very unnerved when she saw it, and when Sasuke asked her to keep quiet about it because Naruto didn't want anyone to know of it, Tsunade had wrapped it up.

Tsunade groaned. "_Naruto_," she said, "I told you to stay in _bed_! You're not well enough to go marauding about!"

"I feel _fine_," Naruto said, smacking the hands of the nurses away as they attempted to grab him. He ducked around Temari's chair, sticking his tongue out at the nurses who were after him. "Tell these crooked weasels to go away, granny! I don't want to go to the hospital! I'm _bored_ of it!"

Tsunade stood up, angrily glaring at her soon-to-be-murdered successor. "I don't care if you're bored! You've just had several major surgeries! You're not fine. Your hand is broken—"

He interrupted her to say, "It's getting better!"

"—you've got several broken ribs—"

"I don't feel it, and everyone says broken ribs are pretty painful!"

"—your whole torso is littered with holes, and you don't _feel_ it because you're currently on some really heavy pain killers! By all rights, you shouldn't even be conscious with as much as we've shoved down your throat!"

Temari cleared her throat slightly and all the attention turned from Naruto to her. "About my request," she began, "it does involve Uzumaki, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade blinked and Naruto asked, "Me? What are you guys talking about?"

Tsunade sighed heavily and went to the hidden closet in the wall, opening it and taking out a blanket she liked to use in the wintertime to cover her legs. She tossed it at Naruto. "Cover up," she told him, and then looked at the confused nurses. "Bring in a chair." They hurried to do as they were bid. Ordinarily, Tsunade would've knocked the patient out if they'd burst into her office like Naruto, but somehow she figured Naruto's head was too thick for that idea to work, and if he really _was_ as bored as he said, maybe he'd simply sit for a while and she could convince him to calmly go back to the hospital.

"Yay!" Naruto whooped. A chair was brought in and placed in the back of the room, as if to suggest Naruto wasn't equal to Temari or Tsunade. Naruto either didn't notice that subliminal message or else he noticed it and paid it no heed because he grabbed that chair and dragged it noisily across the hardwood floor, plopping it right next to Tsunade's chair behind her desk. Then he sat down in Tsunade's comfortable chair, ignoring her glare, and wrapped the blanket around himself with a bright, happy grin.

She pursed her lips. "What?" he asked. "I brought the chair over for you. You didn't say I had to sit in it."

"Out of my chair, brat," she told him.

He grinned a smile full of mischief and said, "Do you _really_ want to sit here after my naked butt's been on the seat? Ya _know_ I don't wear underwear."

She glared at him but said nothing about that and took the other chair, letting the blond enjoy his time in her spinny-wheely chair as he liked to refer to it as. She looked back at Temari, hoping her new attempt at a smile didn't look murderous, and asked, "Your request?" the nurses had disappeared with a glance from Tsunade.

"As I was saying, Gaara has asked for you to send someone _tolerable_. I was hoping you would send Uzumaki." Temari said. Tsunade opened her mouth to say 'no' but Temari said hastily, "We have a very accomplished medic-nin from the Yobidasu staying in Sunagakure right now, and I can assure you nothing short of a very relaxing time for Uzumaki in Sunagakure."

"I haven't even agreed to send any of our Chunin for the exams," Tsunade said, glancing at Naruto. He'd sat back in the chair, resting his chin on his hand. He was wearing his squinty-eyed expression that she'd categorized as "just as unreadable as Sasuke's blank-faced expression". She wondered what he was thinking about. Probably gloating mentally because he was the cause of the agreement, and completely forgetting that the agreement was entirely by accident.

"But you're going to, aren't you, granny?" Naruto asked, his expression never moving from his squinty-eyed look. "And you're going to make me stay behind, 'cause Gaara's obsessed with me."

Tsunade was surprised. "He's _what_?" she inquired. "Now what makes you think Gaara-san's obsessed with you?" Tsunade didn't mean to look at Temari at the moment; she meant to stare at Naruto until he answered her, but Temari's sudden movement attracted Tsunade's attention. Temari was looking very uneasy. "Is this true, Temari?" she dropped the formality for the sake of convenience.

"Well, sort of, yes." She admitted. "How did you know?" she looked at Naruto. Tsunade turned her attention back to Naruto as well.

"Aw, come on, it's so _obvious_. He's had me tailed since I got back to Konoha; one day I got fed up with being followed, so I went up to the guy and I didn't even have to lay a hit on him and he started talking. After hearing Gaara was having me followed, I told the guy he could keep following me 'cause I thought it was funny. I'm always careful not to let something I don't want Gaara to know slip out, and when I really want to, I can easily escape my watcher's eyes." Naruto admitted.

Tsunade had no words for her successor except, "Are you really Naruto?"

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, I'm really me. What can I say? I find weird things funny. Like the fact that Gaara's undergoing a sexuality complex—_funny_."

Temari winced. "Now that you put it that way, it does sound like a sexuality complex… he has a very short list of people he respects that are outside of the family. So short that I think you may be the only one on it. I will have to talk to Baki and see if we can find Gaara a wife."

Naruto asked, "Why do _you_ have to find him a wife? If he's gay, why can't he be that way? And why can't he find his own happiness?" He sounded somewhat irked. "Just because he's got a monster in him doesn't mean _someone_ won't like him for the way he is!"

"Calm down, Naruto, or it's back to the hospital with you," Tsunade said firmly. The boy settled back down in the chair with a snort. Tsunade did agree with him though, "If he does prefer men, you shouldn't force him to marry a woman."

"Well what do you expect us to do?" Temari inquired. "We don't really have that many options. Men and woman alike are afraid of him because of Shukaku but it'll be hard enough finding a woman who will agree to marriage."

"You've got _lots_ of options!" Naruto chirped cheerfully. "Like, matchmaking… it's like a game, and if you manipulate the players, it's _so_ fun!"

Both Temari and Tsunade simply stared at Naruto with dead expressions. What was he _on_?

"Aw, come on! There's all sorts of Konoha girls who're charming, fun, and not to mention sexy! _Some_one is bound to catch Gaara's eye, right? And I know a few gay guys who're _bound_ to be in Suna come time for the Chunin exams. Really, the plan is foolproof!" Naruto said.

"He's going to know something's up if we bring a bunch of civilians into Kazekage tower." Temari said. "That's where he spends most of his time now."

"That's why we won't bring civilians in!" Naruto said. "Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Ten-Ten… they're all single. And Gaara's not going to want someone who is a civilian because they won't be able to keep up with him, and he wants someone whose going to be right there every step of the way, knowing how things are done."

"You've been thinking about this for a very long time, haven't you?" Tsunade asked.

"Eh, only since Sasuke started questioning his sexuality," Naruto said off-handedly. Then he looked at Tsunade with pleading eyes. "Please, can I go? I promise not to do anything too strenuous, and since Ino and Sakura'll be there, they can keep an eye on me too."

Tsunade frowned and then looked at Temari. She was also looking a bit hopeful. Such an event would be a big day for Sunagakure. Finally she pulled a piece of paper toward herself. "Fine," she told Naruto and Temari. She scratched the order down on the piece of paper. "But if the girls find out you're attempting to set them up with Gaara, they get to bash in _your_ head. I'll have no part in the blame. I hope you realize how much paperwork you're going to make for me if one of them decides to get involved with a shinobi from another country…" she sighed at the thought of work. When could she _retire_?

"Sweet!" Naruto whooped. "I'm going to _Suna_!" he chanted repeatedly.

"I'll send your girlfriends," Tsunade told Naruto, "but I'm going to also send my best student to keep an eye on you so that Ino and Sakura aren't too overloaded. Remember, you're _injured_. You're going to relax while you're there, and you're not to leave for Suna until I say, so don't bother getting ready to go because you're not going to leave right away."

"Alright, okay, fine," Naruto said, calming down considerably. She knew he had more than one reason for wanting to go to Suna, but she let him have those reasons to himself. They were good reasons; she was really proud of the way Naruto had grown into such a great young idiot… er… man.

"Now get up. I'm taking you back to the hospital." Tsunade rolled the parchment shut and sealed it with her wax seal, then handed it to Temari. "I'd like him to have as much bed rest as possible before sending him, but please give this and my best regards to Gaara. I'm sure you want to get back to the hotel quickly, so go ahead without an escort." Temari took the parchment with a grateful smile and Tsunade grabbed Naruto's ear. "Let's go, you!" she snapped.

"Ow, ow, _I'm injured_, ow, ow!" Naruto whined as she dragged him toward the door.

xXx

Naruto settled in his hospital bed feeling very smug internally, but forcing himself to keep that feeling from his face. He'd heard Temari had come to town, which practically had him _glowing_. Once Tsunade had left him at the hospital and he'd been moved to a regular room, it hadn't taken much to convince the nurses that he would behave, "if they would _only_ take off the _itchy_ juicers". The idiots really believed him, and they left him alone afterward so before they could react he'd peeled off all the medical equipment and taken off.

He knew doing so wouldn't kill him. Kyuubi felt bad that he'd gone to sleep in his mountain prison after Naruto said he didn't need help from the fox and was constantly making more chakra—er, _Maryoku_—which was automatically directed into Naruto through the seal. His power (however he called it) automatically worked at healing Naruto's body, so Kyuubi said by now, Naruto would be healed enough to leave the hospital if he wanted, so long as he didn't do anything that was really straining. He couldn't use chakra, Kyuubi said, because one of the wounds was located on his chakra circulatory system and using chakra would tear the wound open.

That really sucked, but Naruto had gone weeks without using chakra so he supposed it wasn't so bad. At least he had a choice now. Last time, he had no choice.

The door to his hospital room opened and Naruto looked to see who had come. He beamed at Lee; really, how could Tsunade try to tell Naruto that _Lee_ brought him to the hospital? It really had been Arzyle Arminiean on his magical flying metal donkey. He was only briefly flashing in and out of consciousness at the time, but he knew it was Arzyle. At least Lee would understand… he wasn't hallucinating.

"Hi Naruto-kun," Lee whispered, as if afraid speaking in his normal boisterous tone of voice would somehow break Naruto. He looked as he usually did with his flat bowl cut and his 'uber' eyebrows as Naruto liked to think of them. However, today he also looked very different than usual; he wasn't wearing the green Gai-suit he'd come to love. He was wearing an ordinary brown tee-shirt and olive green khaki shorts. His forehead protector, normally worn around his waist, was tied around his right upper arm, but all his other nin-gear was missing (save for his combat sandals).

"Wow, Lee-kun!" Naruto said, eying the other boy curiously. He'd never seen Lee wear anything except his green Gai-suit. Lee even wore that Gai-suit to church, though even Naruto had managed to save up the money for formal wear on church day. "You look really great!"

Lee blushed self-consciously and tapped one bandaged finger on the brown-parchment wrapped box in his arm. "You really think so?" he asked awkwardly. "Sakura-chan, Ino, and Ten-Ten sort of… jumped me… as I was on my way to Gai-sensei's, and then dragged me to the mall. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the time with Sakura-chan, but I don't know what's gotten into the girls. I thought maybe you'd let me, erm… hide in here for a while since they're still mad at you."

Naruto blinked at his friend. Somehow his mental image of Lee hiding was incredibly amusing, yet at the same time, very disturbing. He really didn't know what Lee had been forced to endure at the mall, but obviously it was something very bad if Lee was actually willing to hide like some sort of cowardly dog. He wasn't really sure he wanted to know what Lee had been forced to endure either.

"Sure, come on in," he told Lee. Lee crossed the room with a look of relief on his face and sat heavily in the chair beside the bed. "What's the box for? Something you guys bought at the mall?" Naruto questioned.

Lee looked at the box and then shook his head. "Oh, no. Forgive me, Naruto-kun. This is for you. It was at the nurse's station." He put the box on Naruto's lap and Naruto glanced at it in confusion. "I don't know who its from but it has your name on it."

Naruto glanced at the name written across the top of the parchment in black permanent marker. "Naruto James Uzumaki," it read. "But…" Naruto frowned, "I've never told _anyone_ my middle name!"

"Perhaps you should open it?" Lee suggested, "There may be some sort of note inside."

Naruto hoped it wasn't from Gaara, because if that guy was obsessed enough to find out Naruto's middle name, then Naruto was going to totally kick Gaara's ass. It wasn't like his middle name was a terrible secret that needed to be kept, but his middle name was his middle name and somehow that really mattered to him. It wasn't even an uncommon or girly name either. It was simply _his_.

Naruto picked at the paper carefully with his right hand. His left hand was in a cast, too bulky to move his fingers much less unwrap a gift from some strange stalker-person. Briefly he wondered if someone might try to kill him through secret gift (Lee did say it was on the nurse's station, so it could be from anyone!) but tossed the thought aside. He'd managed to survive yet another day, so undoubtedly he'd wake up again tomorrow and keep surviving.

After a few moments of struggling, Lee helped Naruto get the box open. Inside the box, they found another box. It was thin and made of lightweight metal. There was a thin sliding lock on the front of it, or what appeared to be the front of it. Naruto struggled to handle the lock, managing to get the 'box' to swing open. He was surprised to find it wasn't a box at all, but it looked like a whole computer system in one small thing.

"Oh, wow!" Lee marveled. "That's a computer! But it looks so small compared to the things I saw at the mall with Sakura-chan today. Those ones couldn't be set on your lap; they were too big and had a lot of pieces. This one seems very youthful and efficient!"

Naruto searched the padding in the box, hoping for a note. He managed to pull one small scrap of paper out that he would've probably considered padding if he hadn't specifically been searching for it. Naruto smoothed the slightly crinkled paper out and read it to Lee. _"Dear Naruto James Uzumaki, I hope you will accept this as a get-well token. I apologize if my quick handling caused you additional injury. I modeled this terminal after the computers sold in the store, so it will work the same way but the power source I used is Arthelian Crystals. Unless my mainframe goes down, you will not lose power, but I do recommend turning it off when not in use. This is very powerful Arthlezenithite technology, but I know you very well and know you will not abuse the power I have given you. Most Sincerely, Arzyle Arminiean. PS. It is NOT a magical flying metal donkey!" _

Naruto blinked at the message. "If it _looks_ like a magical flying metal donkey, then it must _be_ a magical flying metal donkey!" he told the paper.

Lee looked very annoyed and glanced over his shoulder. "It says right there that it isn't a magical flying metal donkey!"

"Bah! I'm going to call the thing Arzyle-sama rode a magical flying metal donkey because he didn't tell me what I should call it!" Naruto paused and glanced at his friend. "And how do you know what I'm even talking about?"

"_Every_one knows about that. Sakura-chan told us what you told Tsunade-sama." Lee informed Naruto calmly. "But if Arzyle-sama told you not to call it a magical flying metal donkey, then you should not do so."

"HA!" Naruto said, "But that's the beauty of it! Arzyle-sama isn't here to _know_! Anyway—"

"You sure do have a way with words, Uzumaki," someone drawled from the doorway. "When you mentioned Gaara's obsession, I nearly choked."

Naruto and Lee both looked at the speaker; Naruto beamed at Temari. "You look as great as always, Temi-chan!" he chirped and she made a face at the name. "I thought your improvisation was great."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly expecting your appearance you know."

Naruto chuckled when Lee asked in a confused voice, "You two seem more than acquainted…"

Naruto quickly explained, "Temari's a spy for me," to which Temari only rolled her eyes in disgust. "Well you _are_." Naruto added for her. "Unless you call all those letters filled with information on the goings-on in Gaara's life that he probably wouldn't tell a pile of sand, much less a human being, something other than spying on your brother. By the way, I'm mad at you." She quirked one eyebrow. "I had to find out Gaara was Kazekage from my friends. I haven't heard from you in over a year."

"Yeah, well, my work load increased twenty fold when Gaara took the job. I haven't had any free time, though I've stopped at your apartment every time I came here as Ambassador. You were the one who wasn't home." Temari moved into the room and Lee looked more confused than he'd been at her appearance. "I hope you know what you're doing with Gaara. He doesn't look like it, but he is easily disheartened."

"We just have to show him that not everyone is afraid of him," Naruto insisted. "But you didn't come here for that, did you? You have something for me." He knew he was right. He'd met up with her in Suna after he'd gotten his S-T Mastery, but at the time he'd been disguised as Nana Reiss (an entirely made up character). He was going to play a prank on her, but it didn't work out as he'd planned and he ended up being found out. That was the base of their relationship, somehow, and it worked between them. Eventually she started sending him letters through the orphanage though he never got a reason from her as to why.

He supposed it was possible she was using his complacency to get close, but somehow he doubted it. She, like all women, had her own agenda she was following and for whatever reason, he fit into the equation. He wasn't complaining about the free information on Gaara, of course, but he had been disappointed when he heard nothing from her for over a year, and he'd been really disappointed to have to find out such big news about Gaara being Kazekage from his friends in Konoha instead of from her.

"I have a letter," Temari said. She pulled it out of her nin-kit and handed it over. "Oh, and next time you're going to send me a letter begging me to get you to Suna, give me a little more time to accomplish that, mm? It was pure chance that we managed to have a reason for Konoha to come this time. See you later, kit." She then turned to leave, but quickly looked back at him. "Oh, and you owe me fifty dollars; I had to bribe the nurse to let me in here."

As she left, Naruto unraveled the letter with a grin on his face… He did love having connections.

* * *

**Thanks to: **yumeniai (erm, sorry but you still have to wait for Kakashi), Emron the Dragon King (you supposed right), supersillee06 (I can only laugh at you...and you're welcome... and KaSsi will eventually be updated though I have no idea when), zoey tamagachi (he shall die a ramen related death in any story you write, I presume...hehehe), Arcander (Sexy comes back in next chapter, and every gay boy needs a lot of busty female acquaintences! How dare you suggest otherwise?!), Rebel Reader Bitch (I've killed off main characters in the middle of my stories before...), sn1ck3rD00dl3 (you guessed right on the first one, and wrong on the second one), .-LM Kitsune-. (think Kikyou!), DarkRavie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 45 after I posted chapter 46.

ANSWER: That was awesome! I had people threatening to quit the story! Wahahaha! The end of this chapter didn't go exactly as I wanted it to, but I figure I can work it anyway. What do you think?

_PLEASE LISTEN TO CIRQUE DU SOLEIL! Half of their songs are in other languages, which I cannot listen to and hope to duplicate on paper... (And please review)_


	47. Naruto's Kids

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 47: Naruto's Kids

As Monday came around, so did Naruto's greatly anticipated trip to Suna. Granted, he didn't have much time to get there, but he had all week to trek across West Sands. He just had to be there by Saturday, and if the weather was favorable and they didn't hit any sandstorms or early wet season floods, then they could be in Suna by Thursday. 

Naruto shifted his pack on his back, grinning at his friends. Lee, Ten-Ten, and Hinata were being sent as the three-man guard for the Ambassador of Konoha. Naruto liked the way it sounded when he said, "Uzumaki, Naruto; Ambassador of Konoha!" He'd already said it so many times his friends hit him (well, Sakura and Ino did anyway) if he said it. Sakura, Ino, and a green-haired girl named Shen, Fuyumi were being sent with Naruto under the 'express orders' that they were to keep an eye on Naruto until he was fully healed. After he healed, they were to report to Gaara as temporary medic-nin help, however Gaara saw fit to disperse the three.

Really, Tsunade could be really devious, Naruto thought. Except for the cast on Naruto's left hand and the bandaging over his right eye to hide the Kyuubi-eye, he had already shed his bandages, so before too long, the three girls would be reporting to Gaara (and it would be all in the effort of matchmaking…).

Naruto watched as Sakura glanced over at him in concern yet again. They'd only left Konoha behind a few hours ago, but the minute they entered West Sands, she got more and more worried that him going was a mistake. She had argued against him going, telling Tsunade repeatedly to get someone else to act as ambassador. Only revealing that Naruto was directly related to the agreement that brought the Chunin exams to Suna made Sakura finally back down.

Still, she didn't stop worrying. At times, Naruto wanted to tell Sakura about the Kyuubi being in him, and let her know everything would be okay. He wanted to tell her she didn't have to worry because a little injury like a few holes in his chest wouldn't slow him down… But he feared her reaction. If she knew, would she hate him like so many people hated Gaara? He already knew she was afraid of Kyuubi.

Sasuke had been left behind. While Naruto was on assignment in Suna with the girls and Lee, Sasuke was to continue his training with Iruka, Kakashi, and continue working at Steinem's. At first, Kakashi _was_ going to go with them, but at the last minute Naruto supposed Tsunade changed her mind which was why Lee was going instead.

All for the better, Naruto supposed. He was surrounded by friends, mostly. He didn't know the temperamental girl, Fuyumi, but as she walked along side him, he was quickly getting to know her. She was bold and adventurous, always willing to make something out of nothing. She was as quick to attack with her tongue as with a kunai.

They made it to Wren Rock Wayhouse at about three in the afternoon. Naruto was going to push them to go further, but his squad of medic-nin pointed out all the reasons why they should just stop for the night. Their main argument ended up being, "If you don't stop, we'll stop you." A few casual death threats were thrown in by the girls, but then Lee got the Wayhouse's dinner menu and that was Naruto's selling point. They were having a pot roast for dinner.

Ordinarily, Naruto would recommend that his friends not eat meat from the desert unless they knew what kind of meat it was. Since it _was_ a desert, the meat choices were usually desert animals of some kind. The Wayhouse cook at Wren Rock had a small farm of desert rabbits that had been plagued all summer by a desert coyote. They'd managed to catch and kill the coyote, and that was what was for dinner.

So the six Konoha ninja rented two rooms with the money Tsunade gave them for the long stay in Suna, and they emptied out the sand from their underwear before setting down in the bar for dinner.

"So, Naruto, you helped organize the Chunin exams in Suna?" Sakura asked him as they ate the slightly burnt meat and choked down the food with cheap ale that wouldn't even entice an alcoholic.

Naruto chugged the liquid and raised his glass, looking over at the barmaid. She was preoccupied with a couple of oddly dressed men. Still, he called out, "Varilai, I need a refill when you got a minute!"

The cute, pig-tail wearing barmaid glanced back at him and winked, blowing a kiss at him before turning back to the other customers. He and Jiraiya had stayed at Wren Rock a few times, so he'd gotten to know Varilai well enough. She was a few years older than him, and as harmless as a hummingbird. She'd never seen the world beyond Wren Rock. She was born in it and her father was nothing more than a traveler passing through Wren Rock. Varilai had never met her father; she didn't even know his name. But that didn't bother her.

As usual, the place was packed. People were always in the wayhouses that were scattered along the trail between Suna and Konoha. Most of those people were merchants and peddlers seeking their fortune in Suna's glass goods.

"Naruto," Sakura chimed, waving a hand in front of his face. Naruto looked at his teammate and blinked. "You alright? Should I check your injuries? You kind of spaced out for a minute there."

"Sorry," Naruto told her. "No, I'm fine. What was your question?"

"I was wondering what you did for the Sunagakure Chunin exams to take place. Tsunade-sama told me you helped." Sakura said.

"Oh, that," Naruto shrugged. "It wasn't anything cool or anything."

"In other words," Ino said knowingly, "it was humiliating for our dear Naruto," she grinned. "Come on, let's hear it!"

"Yeah," chimed everyone else except Hinata. She sat at the end of their table, cheeks as red as apples as she snuck glances at Naruto. _Great_, Naruto thought, _She's as worried about me as Sakura!_

"Okay, if you really want to know," Naruto said. They nodded. Lee looked eager to hear. "Well, Jiraiya heard a rumor about a pale skinned boy who went to the Zodiac Mountains, so we went there to check it out."

"Why is 'pale skinned boy' a rumor to follow? I mean, that's not very descriptive," Ten-Ten pointed out.

"It might not be," Naruto agreed, "except the fact that the Zodiacs are all black skinned, like Sasuke's girlfriend Amunet."

"UGH!" Sakura huffed, "Don't even bring her up, Naruto. When you were injured, she didn't show up even _once_! Not for you, or for Sasuke-kun."

Ino scowled too. "And to think, I thought she was really cool. I tell you what I'm going to do if I see her again."

"What are you going to do?" Naruto questioned. The whole 'disguise' thing was really good. Naruto could find out what would happen to him before it happened and potentially avoid it all together!

"KICK SOME ASS!" Ino and Sakura shouted together.

"Whoa, down girls," Fuyumi said, snickering. "Let's leave the ass-kicking to a pro, eh? I'm sure Sasuke can handle his girlfriend just fine. Did you ever stop to wonder if maybe Sasuke asked her not to show?"

Lee said, "Indeed! Sasuke-kun would not like for his girlfriend to see him sad." He then looked at Sakura with a bright, Gai-grin on his face as he procured his Gai-thumbs-up-sparkly-teeth-included look. "Sakura-chan, I would be happy to escort you to dinner when we arrive in Sunagakure!"

"No thanks, Lee-kun," Sakura said instantly and without missing a beat she turned back to Naruto. Lee sat down on the bench again and picked at his food some more. Naruto noticed Lee hadn't eaten anything since they left, while the rest of them ate jerky and other food-stuffs at lunch. All Lee had done was wear himself out by training in the middle of the day when the sun was hottest.

Sakura was about to say more, but Varilai showed up and distracted everyone by pouring more liquid in Naruto's cup and talking to Naruto. "So, hun, what's bringin' you this way? Did'ja come t' give me my baby? Ya know two blondies like me an' you'll make for a beauty."

Ah, yes, and there it was. The beautiful sound of his friends' shocked silence. Naruto grinned at the cute girl. "Sorry, not this time," he said. "I've already got a beautiful baby girl; she's barely two and she's already determined to be the next Kazekage." He didn't think his friend's silence could be more deafening. He was wrong.

"Well, now, I'm'a might bit jealous, hun," Varilai said with a grin. "What a lucky woman ya have. An' if I ain't mistaken, ya missin' somethin' here." She brushed his bangs back from his bare forehead. Naruto grinned at her as his friends started rousing from their shock to get on to the questioning part.

Naruto said, "You're not mistaken, but I lost it and had to have a new one commissioned this weekend."

"Won't you put it on, hun?" He held up his broken hand. With his cast on he really couldn't do much of anything. "Well, then ya give it t' me, and I'm'a help you out."

He watched as Sakura's face nearly turned purple. She had offered to help him put on his forehead protector, but he declined mostly because Lee was in sight and quite obviously still infatuated with Sakura. Naruto took his forehead protector out of the nin-kit on his waist and handed it to Varilai. Sakura fumed.

"This'un's shinier than ya last one." Varilai commented as she put it on him. She was careful of the bandage around his eye, probably thought he injured it, and she didn't tie it on tight enough.

"That's because this one is brand new. My last one was a hand-me-down, I guess you could say…"

"I guess that must make this'un a whole lot more special, huh?" Varilai asked. She didn't wait for an answer, but assumed she was right. She kissed his cheek with a smile. "Ya think about that baby, ya hear?" She shuffled off into the crowd and Naruto was instantly bombarded with questions.

The questions ranged from, "You have a kid?" to, "She wants to have your baby?" and even, "Why'd you let _her_ put it on but not me?" Finally Naruto got fed up with too many questions and no breathing room to answer so he pushed his plate away from him and stood up.

"I'm going to bed." He said, and he left them at the table.

When he got to his room, he used his good hand to pull off the loose forehead protector. For a moment, he just stared at the shiny metal. Varilai was wrong. The metal plate wasn't better because it was new. One of his most prized possessions had been the forehead protector from Iruka. Sure, it had dulled over the years from all the wear, but the happiest moment of his life thus far was when Iruka gave him that field promotion. Iruka didn't have to give up his own forehead protector. He could have had Naruto go have one commissioned.

But he didn't. Sure, some people might see that as a way for Iruka to get a new one himself, but the older man knew how much it meant to Naruto to have that metal plate. He knew how much it meant to Naruto to be able to show the world 'I did it'.

That was why Naruto only got a new one commissioned to please Tsunade. He would have gone without, just as he had since he lost his. He had hoped he would have a chance to find his again.

Naruto let the metal tagged on the strip of black cloth fall from his hand and clunk on the wood floor. He then crossed the room and sat down on his bed. It was still a long way away from sunset. They could've been walking still.

He took his water canteen from his hip and drank down the rest of the warm water. He was bored. But he would rather be bored than be with his friends if they wouldn't even give him a chance to answer the questions he was being asked.

After a short while, someone knocked on the door. "Come in," he said, and a nervous, red-faced Hinata poked her head in. "Figures they'd send you up here to check on me," he grumbled. He wasn't sure why he was so irritated, but he was.

"N-Naruto-kun, I'm s-sorry to dis-disturb you," Hinata stammered.

"Oh, by all means, disturb away," Naruto said. "Not like I've got anything better to do." He waved her into the room and she came with a great amount of hesitation, sitting on Lee's bed as though it would break if she rested too much weight on it. She said nothing and looked at the floor for several minutes.

He couldn't help himself. His irritation disappeared and he grinned. "Hinata-chan, you're not good at disturbing the peace, are you?"

She did not deny it. "I-I'm sor-sorry, Na-Naruto-kun," she apologized. "D-do you… you want m-me to?"

He laughed and her face turned a little bit redder than before. "Don't be sorry, Hinata-chan! That's a good thing sometimes. See, you're all about peace and quiet, and me? I'm always causing a raucous." It was a random thought. He didn't really know why he bothered to vocalize it.

Hinata smiled ruefully. "I-I like to… to watch… and listen t-to your pranks."

"Me too, Hinata-chan… me too…" Naruto admitted. Of course, that was obvious enough or else he wouldn't do the pranks. The two fell into companionable silence for a few moments.

Finally Hinata spoke again. "Wh-what's that on y-your eye for? I-Ino s-said it was there b-before you g-got hu-hurt."

"No reason," Naruto said with a slight shrug. "I'm training myself so I can get used to only one eye." It sounded good, but at the same time, very silly. "You know, just in case I end up losing an eye some day. It could happen."

"Oh…" she said. A few more minutes passed and Naruto grew more comfortable. He watched Hinata as she tried to look at anything but him. Why wouldn't she look at him, he wondered. "S-so… um, Na-Naruto-kun… you h-have a, um, a kid?"

She never looked at him as she said it. Her feet appeared to be very interesting to her. He wanted her to look at him. "I'll tell you if you look at me," he told her. It took her a moment, but he supposed curiosity was too much. When she finally met his eyes, he smiled at her. Her face slowly became a bit redder. "See, that wasn't so bad," Naruto told her. "Was it?"

"N-No, I-I gu-guess n-n-not." Her stuttering had gotten worse. Why?

He reached down by his bed and lifted his pack up onto his lap. It took a moment to open it one-handed, but he managed it. He pulled out his father's daily journey log and took the letter Temari had brought from him from its safe confines in the book. Inside the envelope with the letter was a bunch of pictures.

Naruto set his pack aside and shifted over to Lee's bed. Hinata's breathing became a bit labored as he sat beside her with his pictures. "Are you okay?" he asked her. "You're really red and you're breathing real hard." He put the back of his hand to her forehead. "You're really hot." When he realized what he'd said, he grinned and winked at her, "And I don't just mean your looks."

She gulped. "I-I-I a-a-am f-fi-fine, Na-Na-Naru-ruto-k-kun!" she squeaked.

"Are you really? I can run down and get you some water or something… maybe you're dehydrating. I mean, we're in a desert and all…"

She shook her head and seemed to make a concerted effort to calm her labored breathing. Slowly her red face became just a bit of a pink flush, assuring him she was probably really thirsty and a bit dehydrated. Well, he'd make sure she got downstairs for a drink really soon.

"Well, here." He said, handing her the pictures. "These are my kids. Just don't go telling Sakura or anyone yet, okay?" She nodded, flipping through the seventeen photos. Each photo was of a different child of various ages, and all of them were giving the camera the ultra-famous Naruto-grin-and-thumbs-up (which he had patented after stealing it from Gai-sensei…).

The last photo probably stuck out to her like a sore thumb, since she stared at it the longest. The child in that photo had spiky blond hair and she was fairly young. She had the same bright blue eyes that Naruto had and her orange sundress was decorated liberally with little whirlpool swirls. She was very young, and yet, there was definitely a similarity between her looks and Naruto's.

"I-Is th-this your l-little g-girl?" Hinata asked.

"They all are, but Vvim's the youngest. She looks like me, doesn't she?"

Hinata nodded slightly, handing the pictures back to him. "Y-yes, she does, I g-guess." She stood up, probably to leave. He wasn't sure why he suddenly felt like he'd done something wrong, but he did. "It m-must be hard for her, having t-to stay in Suna w-with her m-mother w-while you're in Konoha…" Hinata guessed.

"Oh, Vvim doesn't have a mom. Her mom died giving birth to her." Naruto glanced down at the happy little girl who was, in a sense, very much like him. Both of them had no parents. "I was out in the desert by myself one day when I came across Vvim's older brother; he was trying to get help for his mother who had gone into labor. The help he found was me. I…" Naruto stopped when Hinata sat down beside him on the bed again. Her mouth had formed a little 'o'.

"S-so she's not r-really yours?"

"No, not by blood. But I never really held much stock in blood. Family is family, and these guys are all my kids." He wiped his thumb carefully over Vvim's picture, a small smile on his face. Vvim was a really sweet girl when she wasn't being a terror. She truly was an Uzumaki at heart.

"What ha-happened then?" Hinata asked.

"Well, Vvim's mom wasn't all that young. She already had a kid who was our age." Naruto flipped through the photos and procured the picture of Terrence. He had bright red hair and the same bright blue eyes as Naruto and Vvim. "That's Terrence, Vvim's older brother. Terrence knew what was waiting for him and his sister if I took them back to Suna. He… he begged me to take him with me."

"D-did you?" Hinata was such a good listener. She gave Naruto a chance to answer the questions she asked. It was hard not to like her for that.

Naruto sighed. "I lied to him; I told him I'd take him with me, but I took him to the orphanage in Suna. He didn't want to be a shinobi, but by law, all orphans living in the city orphanage have to become shinobi." Hinata didn't say anything, so he continued his story. "I felt like the worst form of dirt after that. I don't think I ever really hated myself more for anything I've ever done. I spent weeks trying to figure out how to fix my error, and it hit me then. I could adopt them. At least, I hoped I could. I spent weeks at the library, reading anything I could on how to adopt. Then, I needed money, so I made a deal with Jiraiya and he gave me the money. But when I got to the orphanage, I saw all the kids there. They were just like me, you know? No parents, no money growing up, no one to look up to, and a future they weren't looking forward to. Jiraiya gave me more money, and I adopted all seventeen of them, bought the orphanage, and now I've even got a working fund of money set up that allows orphans to be immediately adopted under my ever-expanding family name. I can give them the future they want, and that makes me happy."

Hinata smiled at Naruto. He found himself smiling back. "Uzumaki, Naruto; the Family Man," she said and giggled. He laughed with her and then went to put his photos away. As he looked at Vvim's picture again, he removed it from the rest of them and looked back at the shy girl.

"Here," he said, handing her the photo of the little girl.

"Wh-why are you g-giving me this?" She asked, but her fingers took the picture anyway, and he could see a pleased light in her eyes.

"Vvim needs a good role model in her life. Since you and me are polar opposites, you're perfect for the job, you know?" And with that, Hinata promptly fainted. Naruto groaned as the girl fell back onto the soft mattress, her eyes rolling. "Well, you're perfect for the job if you can stay conscious long enough to meet the girl," Naruto grumbled before heading down to fetch one of his three medic-nins.

When he brought Ino upstairs, Ino took a look at Hinata and shook her head in disbelief. "What did you _do_, Naruto? Ask her to be the mother of your children?!"

"NO!" Naruto snapped. Good heavens, Hinata was too nice a girl for someone like him. There was no way Hinata would ever even think to like a guy like him other than as a friend and comrade. "We were just talking, and then I gave her the picture of my girl Vvim, and then bang! She's unconscious! I don't know why she does it!"

"You are the most _clueless_ guy I've ever met!" Ino said. She checked to make sure Hinata was still breathing before saying, "Don't you move a muscle! I'm going to get Lee to help move Hinata into our room. If you strain and one of your stitches gets ripped, don't you dare cry to me!"

Naruto groaned when she was gone. "I already regret my matchmaking plan." He crossed Hinata off his matchmaking list. If she couldn't stay conscious, Gaara wasn't going to be interested.

* * *

**Thanks to: **Natsumi tsuchi-Ookami (maybe this story is a challenge to me so I can see how long I can go without any pairings at all making themselves known?), Dark Inu Fan (It is funny how Gaara's own sister is spying, indeed), supersillee06 (I'm glad the chapter was better... I thought 46 turned out worse than 45 to be honest), zoey tamagachi, WolfLord04 (this is really a HinataNaruto story! It's just going to be a very LONG way coming...), .-LM Kitsune-., DarkRavie, Arcander (I like that... the Great Arzyle™... it really suits!), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 46 after I posted chapter 47.

ANSWER: I told someone Kagome should be coming in this chapter... I lied... I liked this cutoff, so they'll make it to Suna NEXT chapter...I hope. That is, assuming some magical flying metal donkey doesn't crash out of the sky and crush them all to tiny bits... Oooh, worry!

_Like towers falling down, Like a bomb blast in your town, Like a hostage died in flames, I could not forget your (review!!)_


	48. Female Demon

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS STORY SO POPULAR!!  
I never thought I'd get 400 reviews when I started it.  
(Also didn't think it'd be this long, but...)

* * *

Chapter 48: Female Demon

Gaara actually moaned; he'd never realized slicing apart yarn could be such a painful task, and if he ever said it was the task of a commoner to _anyone_, he deserved to be slapped—_hard_—for the degrading offense. Who was he to decide what was beneath him? After all, it wasn't like he was in control of his own life now, really.

He had been, once upon a dream (he longed for that dream back, even if it meant recklessness, not sleeping, and the destruction of property that did not really belong to him).

And then he met a stupid blonde idiot who beat the crap out of him (it really wouldn't have happened, except Gaara strongly believed the Kyuubi was possessing Naruto as much as Shukaku had possessed Gaara during that fight—_he could not believe this to be an untruth no matter how many times Baki assured him it was impossible due to the seal on Naruto being somehow different, and what did Baki know about Gaara's rival anyway?)_.

And then he sulked after waking up and realizing what had-not-quite-settled-in-his-crazy-fight-drugged-brain-days-before (he and Shukaku both raged and brooded and trained and pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, all while lost in the thought that Naruto and Kyuubi had _beat them!_).

And then he became Kazekage and dumped his fiancée (just recalling that made Gaara wince and rub his shoulders as if a sudden chill had just come over him, since even Shukaku was afraid of Kagome).

And then his fiancée—_ex-fiancée_, he did not need to remind himself so often—decided to get herself kidnapped and have no other place to run to for safety so the girl came to him and declared she would be moving into his house (okay, so he pretty much threw the house at her in a declaration of peace between them so she wouldn't murder him for dumping her, but who kept track of those details anyway?).

And _then_ his ex-fiancée simply bounced into his office with her Kabuto-lap-dog trailing her ever-so-obediently—_did he mention he'd been in the middle of a very important phone meeting with the kage of Mist village when she dropped by and… oh it seemed to be the first time in his life he'd ever really wanted the ground to swallow him whole_—and she demanded he get off the phone because she was going to train him.

That had been two day ago, on Thursday to be exact. He'd been so confused and flustered (the clan council watched him with guarded expressions as the elder council openly gawked and glared at Kagome and tried to order her to leave, but no, she would not be deterred so easily… especially not with her lap-dog behind her, pressing his glasses up—_mysteriously glinting smirk on Kabuto's lips_—and the dangerous Black Book convict pulled out nothing more than a **deck of gods-be-damned cards** that made people of the sand twitch and hesitate and deflate).

What else could he have said to her but an ever-so-intelligent, "Hungh?"

Temari, who had returned only a day earlier from Konoha, had to shove her fist in her mouth to keep herself from bursting out into inappropriately timed laughter. Kankuro wasn't so lucky to keep himself quiet, but he managed to turn his laughter into a disgusting half-laugh-half-hacking noise that Gaara _never_ wanted to hear again. Baki had glowered darkly.

"I said, I'm going to train you!" Kagome said with that same self-assured smile of hers that—had it been on ANYONE except her—would have made him feel threatened and feel like he had to push for a more dominating approach. Except the fact that it really was on her, and it only made him more annoyed and frustrated and confused.

One of the council members—he thought it was his distant relation Lily Felwin of the elder council but he could not be sure as he was busy attracting flies with his open mouth (gaping in such an un-Kazekage-like way)—sniffed haughtily.

Baki glowered even more urgently, "_Kazekage-sama_," Baki began, stressing the title as if speaking to nothing more than a two year old (who could, and by the sign of the twitching eyebrow probably would, summon many nasty things that would be so very _happy_ to eat Baki), "is busy on the phone right no—"

Baki stopped talking abruptly when Kagome—_how was it possible for such a petite girl to harbor such incredibly powerful chakra reserves in her body, and yet it still felt as wild and untamed as that of those who had no control on their chakra at all?_—stormed across the room. The clan council parted for her like a sea. They didn't like her, but they respected the power she held.

The elder council did not care for her at all, nor did they respect her power, but Kabuto pulled a random card from his deck and brought its back to his lips without looking at it. With the face of the card facing all of them, they could see the Jack-of-Spades, only it wasn't as a normal card would have looked. The two Jacks that usually would spend their days in opposing sides were…not opposing in a child-friendly manner. The two faced each other, one perfect smirking Jack-of-Spades, the other an impaled-on-the-spade-Jack. The dying Jack looked to be pleading aid, or maybe mercy, but the other quite obviously would _not_ be giving any mercy or aid.

Even Gaara was suitably unnerved. Kabuto was _dead_, but he wasn't quite _alive_ either, yet somehow he still existed. If Gaara chose to believe in gods or a god or whatever other deity people chose to worship, he probably would be asking where he went wrong in life and why several Black Book convicts were residing in his city—_his home_—with his permission and personal guarantee that they were not about to be picked up and hauled to their appropriate and designated cities for trial and immediate execution.

No, he chose to believe gods did not exist since it was a more sane, more logical recourse of action. If he were to allow himself to think—even for a moment—that gods existed he'd probably go blind, deaf, and dumb (since he couldn't get more insane, that was for certain) simultaneously while his body combusted in on itself because he couldn't bear to think that deities (or whatever they called themselves in his day and age) had created him just to have someone to laugh at.

And then Kagome's fingers wrapped around the phone receiver. She picked it up, slowly, her eyes on Gaara's in a childishly narrow way of conveying a silent, yet so very much there, challenge. He felt Shukaku so acutely inside him, a twisting, writhing—_dying? No, Shukaku couldn't die, because he was the container and other than not ever sleeping (and forgetting his daily vitamin supplements that morning) Gaara had to be in the topmost physical form_—ball of fire in his gut. Shukaku was growing more and more restless by the day; he would try to take over soon, and Gaara just wasn't sure he could stop it from happening even with his medicine.

Kagome slammed the receiver down, not caring at all about the ramifications that her actions would doubtlessly bring soon. She'd just hung up on the kage of Mist country!

"Oh, _looooook_," Kagome drawled slowly, and yet her chakra flared wildly around her again, never taking her eyes off Gaara. "Gaara's not on the phone anymore."

Spluttering. Stammering. Shouting. Gaara heard it all, but registered none of it. He'd had just so much trouble containing his excitement, his giddiness, his _emotions_. Except the feelings weren't really his. His personal feelings were those of confusion and anxiety and exhaustion. The rest was the overflow of what Shukaku felt.

"Kazekage-sama is busy with important city matters, Higurashi," said Lily. Lily pursed her lips in irritation. Gaara knew her next words before Lily even said anything. "That was the kage of Mist country you just hung up on. Do you even know what sort of consequences this action will bring us?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Just say Gaara's office was invaded by a PMSing Summoner and I'm sure everything'll work itself out after that." Kagome had said before once more saying to Gaara, "Shoo these weirdoes away now. I am going to train you!"

"What could you _possibly_ teach Gaara that Baki could not?" snapped an old man on the elder council. Word had probably gotten around that Kagome could not Summon. It wasn't that Kagome couldn't, it was simply that she _couldn't_, and that was different.

Gaara rubbed the heel of his palms on his face; thinking of Thursday was about as painful as the way his entire body felt. After his usual blink's worth of sleep, it was as if he'd gotten no sleep at all, and that made him want to just lay on the bed again and close his eyes… couldn't he? Just for a minute?

_Go right ahead, cub_, Gaara heard Shukaku whisper in his mind, sounding soothing in a manipulative way. _I will take care of everything… just rest…_

"Not… stupid…" Gaara said in return as he yawned widely. He knew what the demon would do to him if he let himself fall asleep. "You just want to take me hunting and slaughter something that shouldn't be." Gaara flipped the silk sheets off his body and rolled out of bed. He didn't usually sleep at home (especially with insane Akatsuki members present) but he'd allowed Kagome to convince him to stay. He gripped his bedside table to help steady himself as a wave of exhausted dizziness crashed into him.

_Aw, stingy cub… It isn't like this world doesn't have plenty of these pathetic mortal creatures to spare… A few less won't hurt anything, and you can always make more…_ Shukaku flooded his mind with images of beaten women—rape, his mind instantly provided. His grip on the bedside table slipped and he fell, knocking the table over in the meantime. The small lamp that had been on the table shattered into several pieces on the wood floor.

A shudder ran through Gaara. "No," he told Shukaku seriously. "To both." Shukaku's pout was so powerful, Gaara could feel it and had to force himself not to mimic the expression.

_You are such a prude. _He looked up from his fallen position on his hands and knees. The slippery raccoon demon looked like a ghost, transparent and visible only to Gaara. Shukaku didn't look like anything visibly special. He simply looked like a raccoon, only see-through.

Gaara's green eyes followed the prowling ghost-animal as the demon's spirit came closer and circled him, climbed up on his back—ghosts did not touch things, yet Gaara could always feel the creature and he couldn't explain it—and stuck his nose in Gaara's ear. It was cold, as if he'd just had cold water sloshed on him.

"You just want me to have a child because the seal will transfer you into my child…" Gaara pointed out, looking down at his broken lamp. If he had slept in his office, someone would have already come to clean up the mess he'd made had he broken something. But he was at home, and though he had plenty of servants in his employ, he never saw them. They were as ghostly as Shukaku.

_Do you blame me?_ Shukaku asked him. _I almost had you! I was so close to convincing you to release me, but that damn Kyuubi got in the way! _Shukaku was so angry, Gaara felt it too. Damn, Naruto… how could he have possibly beat Gaara? _Now you rarely even listen to me, much less do what I say! _

Gaara got to his feet. He tried to keep himself from feeling anything about Shukaku's predicament, but it was incredibly difficult and he knew he failed. What wasn't there to be glad at? He didn't want his child to grow up as he did, and he refused to allow another woman to die giving birth to Shukaku's host.

_You should not be so happy._ Shukaku snapped irritably as he fell from Gaara's shoulder. Gaara wanted to ask, 'oh yeah, and why not?' but Shukaku answered before he could. _This seal is killing me, my cub. _

Gaara couldn't stop himself from smiling genuinely as he pulled off his pajamas and dressed in the clothes he was going to wear that day. "I fail to see why this is a bad thing, Shukaku." He glanced at the ghost raccoon.

_You will die with me._ The statement was blunt, and definitely hit home. Gaara was stunned speechless for a moment. And Shukaku continued speaking. _You won't have to die, though… there are two ways you can keep yourself living… Two ways to survive this…_

Gaara would admit, he was afraid of death, and he wanted to avoid it. So he asked. "What are the two ways?" He had to sit down. He only had his pants and fishnet shirt on; it was the first time he stopped halfway through dressing instead of just getting done with it, but he was tired. He only got three hours of sleep, like normal, and his body hurt everywhere. Kagome's 'training' sounded simple enough ("Cut this ball of yarn into three inch strips… I'm going to make us some lunch," she said to him…) but there was so much more to it than she said…

_If you release the seal and free me, you won't die. _

"But you'll kill every living being you come across," Gaara found himself growling in irritation.

_Not you… I would spare you… you're my cub, Gaara… I have cared for you, raised you, **loved** you… If you like, I would even spare those two pathetic mortals you love so much—what were their names again?_

"Temari and Kankuro," Gaara offered before saying, "What is the other way?"

_Do as your father before you and have a child… I will transfer and you will live on._

"You speak as though my father carried you…"

_He did, cub. _That was news to Gaara. He'd never known about that. Of course, he more or less chose to distance himself from his family except for his siblings, so it wasn't as surprising as it probably could have been. _He was a tricky bastard; he promised to free me for years so I did not transfer when he had your siblings. He was never going to free me, and was not going to have another child after the second. But he slipped up one evening and got himself intoxicated, and I then took my chance and transferred into you._

"Well, I guess I have more in common with my father, because you and I will die together." He liked how firm he sounded as he said that. He even felt as if he meant it, which was a very good thing. "I will not let you free to kill, and I will not let you kill a woman so you can talk my child into freeing you."

_You cannot tell me you don't want to feel how good it is to have a woman all to yourself… to do things with her you just cannot do alone…?_

He scowled. "I don't exactly have a line up of women waiting for me anyway, so abstinence is not very hard to achieve."

_Oh, but there was that one girl… She should be of age to bear children, if she wasn't before, and you don't know her so what would you care if she died?_

Gaara groaned and fell back onto the bed. He messed the sheets up even more as he tried to suffocate himself with the silk. Ghostly paws crawled on his stomach, and the raccoon looked down at him. He wanted sleep… why couldn't he sleep? He knew Naruto was a host, and yet Naruto could sleep as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted.

Life was so unfair!

When suffocating himself didn't work, he let the sheets go and glared at the demon. "Why don't you just give up? I don't get involved with people for a reason. So go away, and stop bugging me."

_Aw, my poor little cub… you're tired… why don't you get a little more rest? I'll make you feel better… _

Gaara shot up off the bed in frustration and hastily got the rest of his clothes on. "No. Now stop bugging me." He wondered if Kyuubi ever bothered Naruto. It was very frustrating. _Shukaku_ was very frustrating.

The ghostly being scampered after him as he rushed out of his room, skirting around his broken lamp. One of the servants would come clean his room later and find it. It seemed his day was going to be an annoying one, because Shukaku was in a frisky mood.

Gaara walked through the halls, his feet taking him to his ex-fiancée's bedroom. He pressed his ear to the door but there were no sounds from inside the room to suggest she was awake. He tested the doorknob; she didn't lock it. She probably didn't even realize the door had a lock, knowing her. He opened the door and stuck his head in. Shukaku's ghostly figure slipped into the room through the wall, uninhibited, and the demon leapt up on the bed, seen only by Gaara.

_This one is a pretty one,_ Shukaku said. _She would give you a powerful child, as well._ Shukaku chuckled, _Or, rather, me. You should take her Gaara. _

Gaara walked into her room, closing the door behind him with a gentle 'click'. He padded over to the girl's bed and sat upon it. Ordinarily he would have gone straight to the office and not kept his kage duties waiting, but he had a feeling the day would be long enough without going in immediately. He didn't respond to Shukaku's stupid statement so she wouldn't be disturbed.

But yes, he had to admit Kagome was definitely beautiful. She had a sort of wild, unmanageable beauty to her, like an unbridled horse. The difference between her and a wild horse was that Kagome would probably never be tamed.

He couldn't help but smile down at her, and the ghost-animal glanced back and forth from Gaara's expression to Kagome's sleeping features. _You look at peace, cub,_ Shukaku said. _You look like you used to when watching your siblings sleep at camp. _

Maybe he was at peace… It was always satisfying to him to take night watch on missions. He couldn't sleep anyway, so it simply made no sense to have his siblings or Baki force themselves to stay awake.

_You love her,_ Shukaku breathed, sounding almost amazed at that discovery. _Don't you?_

Again he did not answer the raccoon. He sat on the side of the large bed, wondering why he hadn't left Sunagakure. He hated the place. Even he, who had the power to control sand with chakra, was constantly battling to keep his underwear free of sand. The people of the city expected so much of him, yet in return they could not give him what he wanted. It would be so nice if he could walk the streets without wondering if the people he passed were secretly plotting his assassination.

The attempts on his life had stopped after he took the position of kage, but he knew better than to believe it was over completely. Two days before he was asked to become kage, he was given a solo mission that he nearly lost his life on. All that had resulted from that bogus mission was a desert funeral and an irritable demon-host.

_I will make a deal with you… Kiss her, and I will let you sleep for as long as you want without possessing you._ Gaara sent a disgusted look at Shukaku. _It's fair enough… One kiss for one good, long, undisturbed rest. And it has to be on the lips… none of that peck-on-cheek cheating._

Gaara snorted lightly. As if he'd do that. Kagome was like a sister to him. He'd practically grown up with her. Kissing her would be like kissing a—_soft, blush pink rosebud?_ Shukaku offered. Gaara pulled himself back from Kagome, his own cheeks redder than ripe apples. One minute he'd been assuring himself he wouldn't ever do that, and the next second he was! He needed to get his head checked.

He needed to get out of that room. Her scent was intoxicating, and he could still feel her lips on his. But he didn't leave; he still sat there watching her with his usual emotionless expression. Internally, he was waging war with himself. Leave, leave, leave! She was too much like family! Kissing her was like kissing… Kankuro! Ew, he had to go now… _now_.

Kagome's eyelids fluttered, her lashes touching her cheeks like little butterflies. He felt like worms had just hatched in his stomach and were wiggling about. She noticed him and smiled at him. "Good morning, Gaara!" she said cheerfully as she rubbed her eyes.

Gaara wasn't sure what made him do it, but he suddenly blurted out, "I kissed you." It was so soft, she barely heard it. Hell, he barely heard it. But she did hear it, and he wished she hadn't. He wished he hadn't said it in the first place. He wished he hadn't even gone in her room.

"Oh, I know. That's why I woke up." She said carelessly. She sat up on her elbows and yawned, "Your 'tenant' is really annoying, too, by the way."

"You can hear him?" Gaara asked incredulously. No one else had ever been able to hear Shukaku, or see him for that matter.

"'He' is a 'she' and yes, I can."

"Are you saying I have a female demon inside me?"

"Yes, Shukaku is female. It's in the Level Three Summon Books." Kagome sat up fully, stretching her arms over her head. She was wearing his old pajamas, he noticed. "Why did you kiss me?" Red looked good on her.

"Erm," he tried to will away the stain on his cheeks. Gaara never stammered! He was not going to start now! "Well… um… Shukaku said if I did, he—_she_—would let me sleep without possessing me."

Kagome grinned widely. It sort of unnerved Gaara to see that grin. Then Kagome slid herself from the covers and threw herself at Gaara. Gaara was so surprised didn't even react; Kagome knocked him down on the mattress and he was shocked to find himself being kissed with the same ferocious passion Kagome carried through most of her life actions.

He was _terrified_. Even though she was more like his sister… he was kissing her. Or rather, he was being kissed by her anyway. He gripped the blankets firmly as a shudder passed through him. He couldn't feel Shukaku's presence at the moment, so he guessed the demon had gone. And then Kagome pulled away, still grinning.

"I'm always willing to help my ex, you know." She told him. "But we're going to need to get you a girlfriend, because your council jerks won't like it if we rekindle the marital flames."

He had to swallow hard as he realized she was half naked; didn't she realize pajama bottoms were supposed to be worn? Then again, the night before he slept only in his pajama bottoms and ignored the top so could he really be a hypocrite? She moved off him, pecking him on the cheek. "R-right," he gulped, "I'll get right on that…" Hmph, she spoke as if getting a girlfriend was easy.

She got off of him and padded across the room, grabbing random clothes from wherever she'd tossed them on the floor. He saw her pick up a mesh-long-sleeve shirt, a green tank top, and a hot-pink skirt. He wondered if she was as color blind as the dogs she had as Summons… She turned to grin at him yet again and chirped, "Now, you can go lay down and I'll head over to Kazekage tower and do your job for the day so you can get a good night's rest!"

Gaara shook his head. "I would have to be mad to leave this city in your hands even temporarily." He smiled warmly at her even though he wasn't really joking about that. "Wear the red satin dress Temari bought you and that black mesh-shirt, with those black mesh-leggings Temari got you. I will take you to the Sun Festival this afternoon provided you can convince your lapdog to stay home."

Kagome gaped at him, "Kabuto is not a dog! He's just worried I'll get lost. And why red and black? I haven't worn green or white or pink even once this week, and its Saturday already. I'm bored of all this black and red!"

Gaara shrugged, "You look good in black and red, and when I'm out with you, it makes me look good to have a good-looking woman on my arm."

"That's selfish," she huffed, but she went into her closet and got out the red satin dress anyway. She dropped the green top and pink skirt and took the mesh-shirt and the red dress behind the changing curtain in her room. "Gaara, have you come up with any way to get my links back yet?" she called out to him. "I mean, I've already been here a while, and I'm starting to get worried… If Sesshoumaru finds out I lost them, the Tama, and my bells…"

"It is slightly difficult to come up with a plan to retrieve them, as we don't really know much about where Orochimaru is located. Kabuto has agreed to lead a few of my most skilled shinobi into the mountain to retrieve the items." Gaara looked around for Shukaku. Just as he had guessed earlier, the demon seemed to be gone. That was a good thing, since Gaara really didn't want the demon around anyway.

Kagome tossed the confiscated pajama top over the top of the curtain, and instead of hanging there, it slipped effortlessly to the floor. "I can send Kisame, Deidara, and Sasori with them."

"Best not to." Gaara said. "Orochimaru wants a Summoner. I think we've seen that much so far, so Kisame is out or we'd be delivering a Summoner right to Orochimaru, and if Deidara or Sasori go along, they will slow down the team or possibly cause so much of a raucous that the team will get caught." He didn't like the thought of his shinobi getting caught; he also didn't really enjoy sending out a team right before the wet season, but it could not be helped. "We still have much planning to do before I will send the team out. I want to raise the success probability of this mission as much as possible—"

Gaara trailed off as Kagome stepped out from behind the curtain. His mouth felt suddenly dry. She was so… beautiful… He hoped letting her go was not going to bite him in the ass one day, because at the moment, he was really feeling the burn from his decision. She marched over to him and turned around. "Will you zip me?" she asked.

Firmly telling his fingers not to shake, he zipped the zipper on her dress and released her, feeling as if his hands had been scalded. He watched as she ran a brush through her hair, but he crossed the room and stopped her from braiding it. "Leave it down," he told her, running a hand through the silky tresses. "You look beautiful with it down."

She turned pink at the compliment and he kissed her cheek (Temari would say he was acting out of character and check for a fever), reminding himself she was nothing more than like Temari or Kankuro. "Thank you," she said. She was pleased, and he knew it. "It won't be hard to find you a girlfriend, you know… I think the hard part is making you warm up to them."

"And with the steady supply of women in the area who can stand to be in my presence without shrieking in fear," Gaara drawled, "I have _no_ idea why I haven't just chosen one of them already." She completely missed the sarcasm in his voice. "You know, there was a girl in Konoha who randomly dragged me to my feet at a restaurant and kissed me."

"Really? What would she do that for?"

"She said her friends dared her to."

"Did you ever see her again?" Kagome asked curiously.

Gaara shook his head. "She'd been eating meat and I could taste the blood. After she let me go, I ran out of the restaurant and puked. I suppose seeing that offended her because she gave me a black eye and took off." He sighed. "I don't think anyone has ever given me a blacker eye than that girl. She was… pretty damn powerful."

"Your problem? You're attracted to the unattainable! You just need a nice, docile wife." Kagome stated matter-of-factly.

"Docile is the equivalent of 'incredibly boring' to me." Gaara grumbled. "I'll be honest… I kind of think…" He leered down at his ex, and saw her eyes light up in understanding.

"You like to be beat up by girls?!" Kagome half-shrieked.

Gaara rolled his eyes. Not quite the understanding he'd been hoping for. "No, twit. I like a challenge! I hate it when people roll over and do everything just because its what I say."

She rapped her knuckles on his forehead. "Hello, you're the Kazekage! Of course people are going to do what you tell them to!" He sighed. She wasn't going to understand any time soon, so he gave up. "Don't worry," she told him, "we'll find you a girl who 'challenges' you. Now, you said you'd take me to the festival! Do they have food? I'm starving and its almost noon!"

"I don't get you…" Gaara admitted. "One minute you're talking about getting me a girlfriend, and the next all you can think of is stuffing yourself…"

* * *

**Thanks to: **Arcander (you kill them, of course...), supersillee06 (It would be possible for him to go away for two and a half years and come back with a kid... I should write a story around that idea...), Dark Inu Fan (Naruto has someone there to keep an eye on the kids...sort of like a long-term babysitter), yumeniai, Akina no Akuma (...you must not have much experience with my stories... we're no where near the end!), Rebel Reader Bitch, DarkRavie, zoey tamagachi (Kagome will be paired with...), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (It would be funnier if Gaara told him...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 47 after I posted chapter 48. 

ANSWER: Kagome did make it in this chapter, but Naruto didn't... I was going to write one of my ungodly long chapters but decided against it.

_Master of the house, isn't worth my spit, comforter, philosopher, and life long shit, cunning little brain, regular bald hair; thinks he's quite a lover but there's not much there... (Please review!)_


	49. Deathwishy Child

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

DO NOT EXPECT CHAPTERS THIS LONG ALL THE TIME!!

**NOTE: I made up languages for this story. Any word that is obviously not English **(or the frequently used Japanese words) is probably going to be gibberish. I don't do it very often, and where I do it I generally have explained the meaning of the word _within the chapter the word appears_ if I need it to mean something specific. If I do not explain the word within the chapter it appears, I try to give it up to contextual interpretation.

_Example: "shavden" was hinted to refer to Vvim and Terrence's dead mother._

* * *

Chapter 49: Deathwishy Child

Naruto could not help but be excited when the familiar mountain surrounding Sunagakure came in sight. Returning to the place wasn't as exciting as returning home to Konoha was, but it was still a great moment. For a brief second, his heart clenched and his eyes watered up with the emotion he felt at seeing the narrow canyon passageway through the mountain that served as a gate to the hidden ninja city.

In a way, he had more waiting for him in Suna than he did in Konoha, but in the end Konoha was his home and no matter how hard it got, no matter what he had to endure from the townsfolk, he still loved his hometown and he would always return to it for as long as its doors remained open and welcoming to him.

However, just as Jiraiya had said to him, if he ever needed a place to go—if Konoha became unfriendly territory to him because of _certain circumstances_—then he could go to his home in Suna. He knew Jiraiya was talking about Kyuubi at the time, even if the old toad hermit never actually verbalized it.

Naruto glanced at Sakura out of the corner of his eye. Today, he decided. Today she would have to know, because he knew he couldn't hide it for the duration of their several month stay in Suna. She would find out eventually, and he didn't want her to feel bad when she did find out. It was one thing to simply not mention it in Konoha when it was unlikely for 'it' to pop up randomly and bite him in the ass.

Sakura was probably going to laugh at him and call him a loser. He could feel his cheeks warm up in embarrassment at the very thought of Sakura laughing at him. Hinata had been nice about it. When he told Hinata he had adopted a bunch of kids, she didn't laugh at him and the word 'loser' probably wasn't even in her vocabulary.

But he had to tell Sakura anyway, even if she did laugh at him, and even if she called him names. She was his teammate; she deserved to know. Right? He wished he felt something other than dread for telling her. When he turned in his training report to Tsunade talking about all the embarrassing things he'd been through with Jiraiya, it was easy to take on a cocky 'Yeah-It-Happened-So-What-Got -A-Problem-With-It?' attitude.

Where was the cocky attitude when he needed it?

_Quit brooding, kit._ Kyuubi told him. _You're making an awful lot of noise, and I am trying to nap._

Stupid fox, Naruto thought with all his might, hoping said fox would hear it. If Kyuubi did, he didn't say anything about it.

_Just tell her. You don't have to be worried about her disliking you just because you screwed up for the hundredth time. She loves you, so get used to it._

Naruto's jaw dropped and he turned wide eyes on the girl walking beside him. "Are you serious?!" he demanded and she suddenly stopped talking. He realized his mistake. She'd been talking to him, and he had no idea what she'd just said before his rather random outburst.

She looked triumphant and suddenly stopped walking, pointing at him with an accusatory finger. "I knew it!" she said; behind them the other five members of their party stopped walking to look on them in confusion. "You haven't been listening to a word I've been saying!"

"No-uh-yes!" He stammered. Damn Kyuubi. He dropped a bomb on Naruto and left the human to pick up his own pieces. The fox was never any help when he was needed! "I mean, yes! I was listening!"

"Then how do you explain 'are you serious' as a proper response to 'are you listening to me'?! Seriously, Naruto! Of all the more intelligent choices Tsunade could have picked to be ambassador, she chose you, and you can hardly keep up with anyone's conversations, ever!" Sakura was still upset that he'd refused to tell her about Vvim.

It wasn't that Naruto didn't want her to know… he just didn't know how to begin because there was more to the issue of him having kids than just telling about Vvim. He had to _show_ her.

Naruto sighed and tried to scratch the flesh beneath his cast. "Sorry… My hand hurts," he lied, "it was hard to concentrate." It was a really big lie, because Sakura had stuffed him so full of medicine that morning it was a wonder he wasn't prancing around pretending to be a daffodil. He couldn't feel his hand.

But she believed him. She bit her lip for a moment and then said reluctantly, "I'm sorry for yelling, Naruto. How bad is the pain?"

Ino interrupted abruptly with a quick, "Sakura, no. He can't have any more medicine until five o'clock at the earliest. You know that, so quit being a softy!"

Sakura looked like she wanted to protest but she didn't. She set off toward the hidden ninja city again. Ino went to catch up to her. Ten-Ten, Fuyumi, and Hinata went after the two, and Naruto then fell in step with Lee.

Lee smiled brightly at Naruto. "Naruto-kun, shall I tell you of my recent trip to the Gagazet Mountain springs with Gai-sensei to take your mind off of your pain?" Naruto simply nodded and Lee regaled a tale of Gai-sensei's idea of "spring training". For regular guys (basically anyone who wasn't Lee or Gai-sensei) the training was more like sheer torture. Naruto gave Lee loads of credit for actually living through the torture and being able to tell the tale afterward.

When they made it to the entrance to the city, the city guards took a look at their letter of introduction from Tsunade and provided them with a map of the city. Ordinarily someone as important as an ambassador would receive an escort, but Suna had less than half of the population that Konoha had, and with as busy as the city was, there was no one to spare at the moment.

Since it was a Saturday, and barely after 12:00 in the afternoon, the Sun Festival was taking place. Naruto had to go to the newly built ninja academy at two o'clock to keep a promise. He also would have to see Gaara at some point. Sakura elbowed Naruto—when had she returned to his side?—to get him to pay attention to the guard.

"I apologize, but Kazekage-sama will be unable to see you until later this evening. Arrangements have been made for you and your three-person guard to stay at Kazekage-sama's home; the others may find suitable lodging"—he pointed to a hotel on the map—"at the Dawn Shard. If you have any questions, feel free to return here."

Sakura asked, "Where is Kazekage-sama's home?"

The guard pointed it out on the map and then circled it with his pen. "Here. You may proceed there at your discretion. The servants there will be able to direct you where you need to go. As a recommendation, feel free to enjoy the Sun Festival and visit the local glass shops."

The guard gave them all a friendly smile and shooed them into the city. The group stopped just inside the main gate and looked around. Merchants and shinobi and civilians all wandered hither-thither, roaming from caravan to caravan and purchasing the goods the merchants brought from other parts of the world.

"Wow," Ino breathed happily, "I feel a shop-a-thon coming on…"

"Aw," Naruto whined, "but I'm hungry. I was hoping we'd stop and eat!"

"Hmph!" Fuyumi flicked her long braid over her shoulder. Naruto noticed she had a strange curved blade tied to the end of her braid which would potentially turn even her hair into a weapon. He'd never seen a woman with such a weapon before, but then again, he rarely saw kunoichi with hair longer than mid-back either. Ino was an exception to the rule. "If you're hungry, take Sakura-chan with you."

Ten-Ten grabbed Lee's wrist and dragged him toward the many booths, their one map in her hand. "Come on, Lee! Someone has to carry the bags, and no one is more capable than you are!"

Lee perked up. "That is correct! I am very capable of…" he trailed off and then groaned, seeming to realize she'd exploited him and his weakness. "Wait, Ten-Ten, uh, I um, think I hear Gai-sensei calling?" He also seemed to realize he wasn't doing very well at lying, but it really was funny to watch him attempt it.

"Nice try, Lee." Ino chuckled before the group of them disappeared into the crowd of people, leaving Sakura and Naruto alone.

"Grr," Sakura grumbled, "You owe me, Naruto. Even Hinata is going shopping, so you _know_ I'm going to miss some really good stuff!"

"But the food is great too," Naruto tried to say. "Besides… I think they abandoned us on purpose."

"I got that feeling too," Sakura admitted. "How is your hand feeling now?" She turned to him with a small smile and shuffled her feet a bit as if nervous. He wondered what was bothering her.

"It's okay, really… The stitches on my chest itch more than my hand hurts." He hoped he was reassuring her. He looked around, hoping for some random thing to spark up a conversation between them; he had no idea why it suddenly felt awkward to be alone with her.

"I'll need to check those stitches later on," Sakura said. She took his good hand in hers and started pulling him toward the street on their left. He gripped her hand firmly, lacing their fingers. Walking was a good idea, because it seemed to make things a little less awkward between them. "Keep an eye on where we go. I've never been here, so I'm sure it will be easy getting lost."

"I'm familiar with the city, Sakura-chan," he promised her. "I can get you unlost if you get lost."

"That isn't a word," she reprimanded him with a giggle.

"Well it is now." He 'harrumphed' and it got him another giggle. He smiled down at her, wondering when she got to be so much shorter than him. He could remember being called a runt by her. Now she couldn't say that about him anymore. "Are you hungry for anything, Sakura-chan?" he asked her.

She thought for a moment before shrugging. "I am a little hungry, I suppose. I'm not really particular for anything at the moment though."

He looked around and saw a nearby restaurant. "How about that one?"

"Go for it, dead-last," drawled an incredibly familiar voice nearby, "that is, if you want to risk getting sick off spoiled meat or rotten vegetables." Both teens looked toward the owner of the voice and Sakura squealed happily upon seeing who it was.

"Sasuke-kun!" she shot toward where Sasuke was leaning up against the alleyway wall of the restaurant. She threw her arms around Sasuke and, surprise of all surprises, Sasuke allowed her to touch him without pain of death. Sasuke even slipped an arm around her waist in a deluded half-hug.

Grr, Naruto was going to hit Sasuke. Even when he wasn't supposed to leave Konoha, somehow he got to leave Konoha. And Sakura still thought Sasuke was the coolest thing since they made juice boxes with pop-in straws!

But of course, there wasn't much Naruto could do except be all jealous over his best friend getting an enthusiastic hug from a cute girl with pink hair, so that's what he did. He got jealous, huffed, crossed his arms over his chest, and stated in an annoyed tone of voice, "Well, I'm going to eat!"

He stormed toward the restaurant but didn't get far before Sasuke had him by the wrist (thankfully he'd grabbed his good wrist…not that he'd have a good wrist if Sasuke kept up with the pressure-applying because DAMN IT HURT!). Sasuke said, "Naruto, I'm serious. The place is under inspection and liable to be shut down by the end of the day."

Naruto couldn't actually confess to having heard a word Sasuke said. His eyes were stunned and staring at something on Sasuke's forehead. _"What's the point? You couldn't even lay a scratch on this anyway,"_ Sasuke had growled at the Valley of Ends. Sasuke had it back again. He wore his old forehead protector… the one with the gouge through the leaf symbol.

_Hi to you too, Sasy-chan_, Kyuubi whispered in a mocking voice. Sasuke rolled his eyes; a silent communication that he wouldn't respond to Kyuubi. _Now, now, Sasy-chan, don't think those sort of things._ Sasuke sighed.

Sakura neared the boys and said, "Okay, I'm missing something. Are you two planning on kissing, or do you really have some sort of com-link buried in your brains that lets you guys hear each other's thoughts?"

Naruto blinked at Sakura, then at Sasuke, and then he grinned widely at "Amunet's Boyfriend". "Kiss, huh? We could make it all kinky and stuff, and bring you in the middle, Sakura-chan," he told the girl. That got him a screamed 'pervert' and a hard slap, but it didn't lessen how humorous he found her shocked expression.

"What is wrong with you?" Sakura asked Naruto, but then apparently decided she didn't want to know (or was better off not knowing). "Just—stay away from Jiraiya. And Kakashi, as much as you possibly can." She turned to look at Sasuke and totally ignore her somewhat perverted teammate. "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing here?"

Sasuke shrugged. "You want the truth, or something that sounds good but is a lie?"

"The truth," both Naruto and Sakura said in unison.

"No lying," Sakura added.

"Hokage sent me here with a message for 'Konoha's Ambassador'. Kakashi's around here somewhere too, but he ditched me right after we rented a hotel room Thursday night. Said he saw an old friend." He seemed bored as he said it. As people in the street groused about having to move around the three teens, Sakura grabbed both of them by the hand and pulled them closer to the alley and out of the way.

"A message?" Sakura asked curiously.

Naruto was more concerned with… "Thursday night?! How did you pass us up? You were still in Konoha when we left, and we got stuck in a sandstorm yesterday, laid up in the way house at Creevy's Oasis!"

"Naruto," Sakura said patiently, "we stopped walking at three on the first day. Sasuke-kun probably passed up Wren Rock."

Sasuke nodded his agreement. "Oh, and the message is 'if someone asks you what the message is, make up something inventive.'"

"But why would Tsunade-sama send you here?" Sakura asked.

More importantly, "Make up something _inventive_?! What kind of crap is that? I'm good, but I'm not that good!"

"I thought you were still on probation." Sakura really was ignoring him… Didn't the girl know Naruto was going through a crisis? How was he supposed to come up with some ingenious reason for Sasuke and Kakashi to come see the Konoha Ambassador (who was him, of course, not that he really needed to be reminded of that totally awesome fact) without his beloved Sakura to force him to concentrate on…

Hey, he had a really good view down Sakura's vest from where he stood… Ooh, she wasn't wearing a breast band, which probably meant bra, which definitely meant "more cleavage than normal", oh life was so goo—_Naruto, you're off track._ Kyuubi told him.

Oh, yes… he was panicking. "How the hell do I come up with something like that?" Naruto moaned.

"Shut up, Naruto!" his two friends said to him. Naruto pouted because no one cared of his crisis. Sasuke continued with a clipped, "Due to certain developments in my personal relations, Hokage has deemed me fit to be a shinobi."

"Certain _developments_?" Sakura asked.

Naruto snorted, "Fit… yeah, whatever."

"What kind of developments?"

Sasuke glared at them both. "Apparently there is an underground kunoichi fan-girl society, and once I appeared with a girlfriend, a 'hit' was put out on my girlfriend's head. But, since no one can locate my girlfriend at this time, and I am not willing to divulge the information of her whereabouts under pain or threat of death, the rabid females of Konohagakure deemed it more worthwhile to form a mob and chase me through the streets. In three hours following your departure from the city, I became far more hunted than any missing-nin has ever been forced to deal with. Apparently I am better off dead than shared." Sasuke shuddered slightly as Naruto nearly bit his lip off trying not to laugh.

Sakura's eyes blazed furiously. "How dare those bitches take action without me there! I am _president_ of the Sasuke Uchiha Fan Club! Oh, they are so dead when I get back to Konoha!" She immediately began pulling at Sasuke's clothes, lifting his shirt up to check for bruises or scrapes. "Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke glared at her. "You ask if I am alright." He actually huffed in irritation. "Alright, you say? No, I am not, in fact, alright. I spent three hours on Monday ducking shuriken and dodging kunai. Konoha became a war zone as nearly four hundred women tried to murder me, and no, they were not going to give me a clean, quick death. They wanted to rip me apart—slowly. They had plans to tie me to a bed and… how did they say it again?" His face scrunched up as he imitated a shrill female voice. "Sex Uchiha to _death_."

Naruto couldn't help it. He snorted several times as he tried not to laugh and then deemed it too difficult a task and gave in to full out laughter. "Man am I so glad I don't have a fan club!" Naruto cackled.

Sakura 'harrumphed' and turned her nose up at Naruto. "Don't be so sure about yourself, Uzumaki, Naruto!" she told him seriously. "You do have a fan club! As far as I'm aware it only consists of one person, but let me tell you! One person is _all it takes_." Naruto went slightly green and Sakura snickered slightly. "That's right, so shut your damn mouth, Naruto."

Naruto gulped. "Okay, Sasuke… if I die because of a rabid fan girl, um… you can have all my stuff, okay?"

"Same to you," Sasuke said. "Except my death seems more imminent than yours, since, well… it's just not safe for me in Konoha. Anyway, that's why Tsunade took me off probation, but she's keeping the tracking bug in me."

"What tracking bug?" Sasuke had a tracking bug in him? That was news to Naruto.

"The one that was put in Sasuke-kun's arm when he came back, stupid," Sakura said. Naruto couldn't help but let a stupid grin cross his face. Team 7 was back together.

His stomach growled. Both of his friends heard it and looked at him (Sakura kind of glared at him that his stomach would interrupt her time with Sasuke, and Sasuke kind of smirked as if he had known that would happen ahead of time). "Naruto, how can you possibly eat as much as you do?!" Sakura demanded. "And be as hungry as often as you are?"

"Hey! I'm eating for two people here," Naruto insisted. He slid his good arm through Sakura's and squinted at Sasuke, trying to telepathically say that he should do that as well. Sasuke didn't get the message, since he just stared at him like he was crazy (which, him being crazy wouldn't be debatable at all). "Sasuke, grab Sakura! I know this good restaurant you'll both love!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and did not move to take Sakura's arm. Sakura didn't notice his obvious wish for some personal space since she invaded it like an alien and latched onto his arm with her free one… Naruto was _so_ not going to let her arm go… Lee might be Naruto's friend, but Sakura was Naruto's teammate. Therefore, Naruto was supposed to have certain benefits that Lee did not when it came to Sakura. Arm grabbing was one of those benefits (though sexual harassment laws might see it differently but at least she wasn't protesting).

"It better not be a ramen stand, Naruto, because if it is…" Sakura warned him slowly.

"It's not, I promise! It's called Parson's Diner. They're really good. Old man Jiraiya won't eat at any other places in Suna." Sakura looked downright deadly hearing that. Naruto hastily amended, "It's not a hooker house! I promise!"

Sasuke sighed. "Surprise of all surprises, I suppose." He said. "You better be paying for your abnormal appetite, because I don't have much on me."

"Lunch is my treat," Naruto promised. "Besides, I have…" He trailed off for a moment, trying to decide if he should just blurt it out or wait until their mouths were full and hope that they'd be too busy choking to laugh at him. The latter sounded better, so he went with that. "Money," he finished lamely.

Sasuke and Sakura glanced at him with odd expressions. He knew they knew he was not telling them something. They'd find out in due time… if those accusatory glares didn't force him to give out early.

Thankfully he managed to hold off blurting it out until they reached Parson's Diner. They sat at one of the small, circular tables and the red-haired waitress gave them each a menu. Sakura took a look at the menu and groaned. "I can't read a word this says!" she said. "It's written in Suni!"

Sasuke said, "Don't feel too upset. I can't read it either."

Naruto grinned smugly at his teammates. "Well, _I_ can."

Both of them stared at him in shock and surprise. "I feel one-upped," Sasuke admitted.

"'Cause I'm better than you," Naruto smirked. "Jiraiya made me learn the native languages of all the places we went." He looked at the red-haired waitress and felt like showing off. It was always a good idea to show off when he could, especially when he was about to get laughed at. He grabbed his teammates' menus and handed them back to the woman, ordering their drinks and meals for them. As he ordered, he spoke Suni, just because he _could_.

"Show off," Sasuke muttered darkly before brooding.

The waitress took down the order and went off toward the kitchen.

Sakura, on the other hand, was mildly impressed. Naruto knew how to speak Suni, and read it, so she could assume he could write it. But from what he'd said, he knew other languages too, and that made her curious. What other languages did he know?

"Oh yeah!" Sakura said, remembering something she'd asked before she got side-tracked after learning Naruto had a kid. It bit her in the rear that he wouldn't tell her about his kid, but she figured he must have a reason for it. "That agreement you helped with! What did you do for it?"

Naruto felt his cheeks warm up as Sasuke looked between Naruto and Sakura with his usual blank stare. Sasuke didn't know about that. It was too bad he couldn't remain ignorant. "What agreement?"

"Erm," Naruto hesitated, but Kyuubi sleepily told him to suck it up and talk about it. "Well, that wasn't… well… it wasn't really my fault," Naruto began.

Sakura blinked and then asked, "What do you mean? Did you help with the Chunin exams coming here, or didn't you?"

"Well, it ended up with that result, but that wasn't exactly what I was trying to do." Naruto winced at the memory. It was definitely the opposite of what he wanted to happen. "See, Jiraiya and me went to the Zodiac Mountains, and I… accidentally wrecked something that… probably shouldn't have been." His friends looked at him with such dry expressions on their faces he knew they were not surprised. "It wasn't my fault though! There were like a million women, and they were like, 'Hey!' and I was like, 'Hi!' and then it was like, eh, and suddenly, BAM! And then the girls were all like, 'Zeve di koda?' and that's like… only the most embarrassing thing to be asked ever, so I was like, 'Nore vakuro di patrodaxen!' and they were like, 'Dosten!' and they came at me, and well…" he trailed off. "Um, yeah, so that's how it happened… and then I came here with the old toad pervert and he left me! I don't even know where he went, but I was by myself for weeks!"

"I think you lost me," Sakura said slowly.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know! I was totally lost too!"

Sasuke frowned. "So basically you didn't tell us anything that really explains anything."

Naruto took a deep breath and thought real hard about how to explain things. "Okay, first Jiraiya and I went to the mountains. Then I was just walking along minding my own business, and I saw something sparkling. So I had to investigate it! It was a coin stuck in a crevice between two rocks. I managed to get it out but… um… doing so kind of caused a rock slide. Even though no one was hurt, they still made me do community service to pay for the damages to the city. The job they needed me to do was deliver a message here, and then take the response back."

"So what was the most embarrassing thing they asked you?" Sakura asked.

Naruto huffed. "They asked if I did it on purpose! Can you _believe_ that? I mean, if I wanted to purposefully cause a rock slide and wreck things…" He felt insulted just thinking of it. It was as if they'd accused him of being weak! If he wanted to cause damage, he would cause _real_ damage, not just cause a small rock slide that happened to knock down a wall on a restaurant.

The waitress brought their food and drinks out and Naruto ate the food gladly. Sakura and Sasuke looked less certain about it, but they did take some in their mouths and found that it was edible even if it wasn't all that great. (Naruto would've preferred ramen, but…).

Sakura said, "So how did you end up with a kid?" as soon as Naruto's mouth was full.

His cheeks burned as Sasuke glanced at him in surprise. Naruto could practically read Sasuke's thoughts. The other boy was recalling how Naruto proclaimed to be able to get pregnant in his female form. "'t's nurt zat!" Naruto told Sasuke through a mouth full of food.

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'Isn't it?'

Naruto panicked, trying to figure out how to say it properly. Just how did one broach such a sensitive topic? He really, really didn't want them to hate him. Kyuubi insisted that Sakura loved Naruto for who he was and that her feelings wouldn't change because he made a mistake, but how could Naruto believe it? People hated when others made mistakes, therefore they must hate the person who made mistakes as well, right?

"It's not what, Naruto?" Sakura demanded. "Its high time you start talking! You said you have a little girl! What about her mother? And when did all this happen?"

"Well, they don't have a mom," Naruto began, swallowing nervously. He began to tear up his napkin as nerves gripped his stomach.

Sasuke let out a surprised, "They? You have multiple children?"

Sakura looked downright shocked. "Just how many kids to you have?!" she wanted to know.

Naruto winced at her tone. "Well, seventeen… But, but it's not really, I mean, not what it sounds, or really, it's not that bad!" Naruto was really attempting to save himself, but doing that was really hard. "Sakura-chan, I can explain! Really!"

She glared at him with a hard look on her face. "Then by all means… start explaining, because I fail to see how being a man-whore makes you any better! No woman could possibly have seventeen kids, so that suggests multiple partners! And that's disgusting!"

Naruto hung his head a bit. "Sakura-chan… I…" he didn't know how to say it. It would be so easy. Really, all he had to do was say, I screwed up so bad a woman died giving birth and felt awful so I adopted seventeen kids. But then again, that was a hard thing to admit.

Sasuke had a novel idea. "Why don't we finish eating, and if it is agreeable to you, Naruto, you could introduce us to your kids."

Naruto sent a grateful smile at his friend, but even Sasuke looked a bit disconcerted. He was probably also thinking badly of Naruto. Naruto wished he was more like Sasuke or Neiji or Shino. All of them would probably not have a single problem breaking such important news to someone.

They finished eating in silence and Naruto went to pay the bill. When he returned to his friends, Sakura was just lifting her travel pack on her shoulders, but Sasuke offered to carry it for her (which was surprisingly nice and thoughtful of the other boy, but probably also done to one-up Naruto who was about to ask if he could carry it for Sakura so he could one-up Sasuke…).

"Well, let's go meet your kids, Naruto," Sakura ordered.

Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder and whispered softly in her ear, then said a bit louder, "If you want to introduce us to them," as if Sasuke was a peacemaker. Maybe Sasuke knew Naruto felt awful.

They left and Naruto led them down familiar streets, stopping in front of the broken picket fence surrounding his Sunagakure property. His cheeks burned as his good hand pushed the broken gate open. He didn't look at his friends. He didn't need to. Shock and dismay rolled off them like torrential waves as they got a look at the run down place.

The building didn't look any better than it had two years earlier when Naruto purchased it. Graffiti littered the outside of the building and it looked like something that should be condemned, not lived in. Naruto felt even more embarrassed. He'd given them money to put toward repairs. It looked worse now. Where were the children? The younger ones usually played in the yard. He paused at the front door, looking up at the sign that read "Nana's House".

"Naruto, are you saying you know Nana Reiss?" Sakura demanded with an incredulous look on her face.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. Of course now would be a good time to mention _that_, but then what to do about 'Amunet'? "Yeah… um, about that…" Naruto sighed. He closed his eyes, wishing that life had an easy button. "Er, just… come in. There's… a few things… yeah…" He opened the door and let them in the house.

The first room they entered was the entrance hall. The house was eerily quiet; Naruto felt unsettled. _Where_ were they? "Mesa Theroux?" he called out. There was no response. His stomach churned. He pointed to the door on their left. "Wait for me in there. I'll be right back." He didn't wait for their response before heading through the door on the right.

The door led into the dining hall. Through there, he was able to get to the kitchen. He was able to relax instantly when he saw his live-in caretaker. The white-haired old woman was just pulling hot cookies from the oven. The kitchen was stifling, even though the windows were all open.

She looked up at him in surprise when the door opened. "Oh! Master Uzumaki," she smiled warmly at him. "I did not expect you!" The plump lady set her tray on top of the oven and got her spatula, removing the cookies from the tray to a cooling rack. "The children will be happy to see you. Vvim really wants to meet you."

"I had to come…" Naruto told Mesa Theroux. "Terrence's graduation is today. I didn't want to miss it." He watched her move the cookies; it was almost mesmerizing the way they went from one place to the other. "Where are the kids, anyway?"

Mesa Theroux chuckled at him. "Today is Vvim's birthday. The children decided Vvim needed a special birthday outfit, so they are at the tailor's. Afterward, they will go to support Terrence's graduation."

"Oh…" he felt a sort of foolish amusement toward his own worry. What did he think, that they'd been adopted? It was impossible, since he had already adopted them. He decided the best time to ask about the house repairs would be while it was still on his mind, so he brought it up. "Why haven't there been repairs made to the place?"

He did know he needed to return to his friends and finish explaining things, but he was procrastinating. Worse still, he knew he was procrastinating. "It was the children's decision, Master Uzumaki. I did argue with them, but I'm just an old woman and there is only one of me. They decided to use the money for something else."

She built up a plate of previously cooled cookies, then offered him one. He gladly took one. He'd definitely hired a worthy woman to take care of his kids (she was a great cook!) because he'd never gotten better cookies from anyone else (not that many people ever offered him any though so he was biased). "But Mesa Theroux," he started. She looked at him with a quick glance of amusement.

"How many times must I tell you not to call me 'Mesa Theroux'? You make me feel old. Just call me Anna." She chuckled at the properly scolded look on his face. "I'm a civilian, Master Uzumaki, and you've got seventeen ninja children running about—and if they aren't ninja yet, they fully intend to be soon enough. I'll not argue much with that!"

"But you're in charge of the money!" Naruto tried to argue. "I don't want the roof falling on your heads if one tough wind blows through the city!"

She set the plate of cookies in front of him. "Master Uzumaki, this old house is a fine example of Suni architecture! It'll not be falling even if an army comes at it. Sure, it looks a bit old fashioned, but I'll have you know the founding fathers of this orphanage built this house with the sweat and sand from their backs!"

"And I thought the kids didn't want to be ninja! That confuses me; why would they all want to be one now?" Naruto bit into the warm, chewy cookie, trying to contemplate that strange occurrence. He knew a few of them were shinobi before he came along due to the city 'owning' them, but Terrence was the last of them who had been forced by the city to go to the ninja academy, and once someone started at the academy, they couldn't simply stop going. There were still a few who didn't have to be shinobi due to Naruto adopting them.

"They have a great influence in their lives who they admire and look up to," Anna said. Naruto felt his cheeks pink for the thousandth time that day. "You truly are a one-of-a-kind."

Naruto stuffed more cookie in his mouth to hide his embarrassment. Anna had a real knack for making him feel self-conscious. But maybe she could help him with his current problem? "Mesa Theroux," he began again, but changed course when she gave him a small 'look'. "Erm, Anna…" Her expression seemed to say 'that's better', so he continued, "My teammates are here, and I'm trying to figure out how to explain me having seventeen kids to them."

Anna gave him a long, speculating look before shrugging. "Why don't you start from the beginning? I find a good story always starts with a beginning." She turned around and started getting another batch of cookies on the tray to go in the oven.

"Yeah, but there's so much more to it than the beginning! How do I explain Nana, and… and _that_." He couldn't even say it aloud. He hated that he failed. Maybe if he were just a little bit smarter, Vvim's mother might not have died in childbirth. Maybe if he didn't always fail at everything, it might not surprise him so much when he actually did something right.

"Master Uzumaki, if you start from the beginning, and I would think Vvim's birth would make a great beginning, then you can let them ask questions and answer them until you feel you've told enough of it for them to understand. It is really quite simple that way." Anna put more cookies on the plate before him even if he had only eaten one so far.

Naruto felt his shoulders sag. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to choke. He just wasn't ready to tell them. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he could tell anyone except his Konoha friends—and he had told a few people about it before, too. Some of the people on the Argreena knew. He had friends from the "sex academy" (the Seduction-Infiltrator Mastery School, in other words) who knew about it. His gay friend Cleo knew. Temari knew. But what if his Konoha friends thought he was weak because of it, or a loser, or a freak?

He wasn't a hero like his father the Fourth Hokage. He screwed up a lot. His broken hand was testimony to that. If he had been smarter, he might have found a way to destroy the inky monster thing instead of breaking the bones of his hand trying to release the cables on the lift tray.

Anna reached out and pinched his cheek with a small, comforting smile on her face. (Well, it was either meant to be comforting, or else she was secretly plotting to kill him… one could never be too careful around those Suni people, if Gaara was any indication—though Anna, being a civilian and all, probably wasn't plotting his death). "You did what you could for the shavden, Master Uzumaki. Terrence and Vvim know this. They do not blame you, and as much as Terrence is older than you, he still respects you as his nana. Now, you take this plate of cookies." She pressed the plate into his hands. "Return to your team and offer them a cookie. Let everything else just fall into place."

Naruto sighed and took the plate from her. "Yes, Mesa Ther—"

"Master Uzumaki, don't you make me get the spoon!" Anna said sternly. "I get enough of that name-calling from the children. I don't need it from you too!"

He gulped, flushed a rather pale color at the idea of a whacking, and then amended, "Yes, Anna…"

She smiled pleasantly. "Now, how many of your team are here? I must know for how many glasses of milk to bring out. I know children just love dunking their cookies!" Her eyes twinkled merrily and he responded with a quick, 'two others' before taking the cookies out of the kitchen.

When he got to the sitting room, he found the interior had changed quite a bit since his last trip. The kids had added a lot of furniture to the once perfectly uniform room. Paintings (probably done by the kids themselves, since most of them lacked talent of any kind) hung on the walls in random places, held up by frames that were either made of recycled materials (also probably the work of the kids) or else second- or third-hand resale frames.

The mismatched furniture sprawled everywhere in the room, almost creating a clown-like environment. Some of the furniture coverings had poke-dots, some of them were plaid, and some of them were flannel patterned. Some of the furniture were upholstered in well-worn leather that had torn but been repaired crudely. Other pieces of furniture were just plain one color of fabric. Some had been sat on so much the springs were shot just by looking at it, and still there were others that had a pillow nest on them.

Some were recliners, others were love seats, a few were pouf chairs with such wide seats they could fit an ogre's bottom in it without hesitation. Some were pull-out couch-beds, some were couch-futons. In front of (or beside, depending if the furniture was a chair or a couch) each piece of furniture was a coffee table or a couch end for snacks and drinks to rest on.

Despite the fact that there was furniture everywhere, there still seemed to be a purpose to the placement of the furniture. Every piece of furniture was placed to create a very large circle around the center of the room where there were eight televisions on an obviously home-built circular entertainment center.

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'Terrence,' he thought. It had to be the boy. Terrence was an electronic freak. He probably used his meager inheritance from his mother's death to buy the televisions, and by the fact that there was only one universal remote control and only one movie player in the center of the whole mess, he could easily guess Terrence made it so that all eight televisions were interconnected so that all the kids could watch the same thing.

It was an interesting home theater set up; Naruto had a television once, but it had been a black-and-white screen that was so old it didn't have a remote control and half the time it didn't work. It had six owners before he got it. His landlady sold it to him for fifteen dollars so that he would be able to keep an eye on the news in case school got canceled in the winter. He never had a shelf to put it on, so he'd always been tripping over it in his tiny apartment until he just got rid of it. He always had to work anyway, so snow-day or not he would have to leave the apartment.

Most of the paintings appeared to be self-portraits, but there was a very _large_ painting covered with new (not even littered with moth eaten holes) bright orange cloth made of velvet, as if the cloth were a curtain to keep the precious painting as free of sand as possible, while the others looked dusty and had bits of sand gathering in the corners. He wondered what the painting was of, but then Sakura and Sasuke caught his attention.

They had not sat down. From the way Sasuke's shoulders were tense and Sakura's lips were pursed, he guessed they were a bit nervous. At least Naruto wasn't the only one, then. His nerves were becoming so frayed (he probably would cry if they started laughing at him, or if they hated him, or if they were disgusted at him, or… or… STOP. He had to stop thinking) he wasn't sure how much longer he would last before going berserk. Why was it such a big deal to tell them, but not a stranger? They'd known him since _forever-ago_, so this should be easier! Then why did he feel like tearing out his hair?

And why wasn't Kyuubi bothering to reassure him that everything would be okay? Oh yeah… the fox said he was going to take a nap (and expressly told him not to get into trouble and die in the meantime).

"Um, Mesa Theroux made cookies," Naruto began lamely as he walked up to them. He held out the cookies. Neither of them took a cookie, so he gave up and set the plate on the closest coffee table. The coffee table looked like it had seen war and survived to tell the tale. Since they were in a hidden ninja city, he rather randomly thought the table just might have done that. He waved to the furniture. "You guys can sit down." He glanced at one of the many clocks on the walls (no matter what angle a person sat at in the room, they would always be able to know what time it was) and saw he only had an hour until he needed to be at Terrence's graduation.

That certainly didn't leave much time for an important explanation, did it?

The two of them sat on the closest ogre-sized pouf chair (which happened to be a rather attractive orange color even if Naruto did say so himself…) and Naruto sat on the sturdy coffee table in front of them. He wanted to RUN AWAY, but he couldn't. Not only would his pride not let him back down, but they'd probably just chase him down and whack him around a bit, then he'd have a few more injuries and he'd still have to tell them.

There was no escaping this now.

"First off," Sasuke started when no one was saying anything, "who is Mesa Theroux?"

"She's my," Naruto began, but a grandmotherly tittering sound cut him off.

"Tut tut, young Master, you make a woman feel old." She set a tray of three dunkable glasses of milk on the table beside Naruto and then flicked Naruto's ear. He winced and rubbed the abused appendage. "Don't go teaching your friends to call me names, Master Uzumaki." She smiled and held out a hand in greeting to the two, shaking their hands pleasantly. "I am Anna Thomson. Master Uzumaki hired me to be a live-in caretaker for the children."

Naruto felt as if just a little bit of his nervousness went away. He felt a hint of a smile creeping on his face. "Yeah, well you're totally qualified for the job! You can make homemade ramen!"

Sasuke's lip twitched and Sakura hid a small smile. Anna sighed and ruffled Naruto's hair. The white-haired woman glanced side-long at Sakura. "Boys will be boys; I trust them to think with their stomachs. It makes it so much easier to tell when they're lying." Sakura giggled.

Sasuke asked, "What's with this room?"

"I donno," Naruto said, shrugging. "It wasn't like this two years ago; I haven't been back here since then. Haven't had the time or the opportunity. Mes—Anna, erm, hehe…" She had looked ready to clock him upside the head, civilian or not. "Anna, why did this room change?"

Anna lifted her shoulders in a careless shrug. "There was no need for an interview room after this place ceased to be an orphanage." She placed a hand on her hip and peered speculatively at Naruto's teammates. "Well, then, drink your milk and eat your cookies. Master Uzumaki, will you sleep here? Shall I clean up your room?"

"I can clean," Naruto began but Anna frowned at him. "I guess you can…"

She smiled victoriously (why? It wasn't like she won a battle or anything…) and said a brief note of departure to Sasuke and Sakura before leaving the room. When she was gone, Sakura said, "She seems like a really nice lady."

"She is," Naruto agreed. Then things sort of fell silent and Naruto knew it was _time_. It was time to just get it over with. "It started when I gave birth to Vvim," he began, and then he flushed dangerously pink as he realized what he said. He quickly corrected it to steer the amusement off his friends' faces. "I mean, this old woman was pregnant and there was no one else around to help her give birth! I didn't really pop a kid out myself! I just was there."

Thankfully they stayed quiet so he could tell them the story. He pushed forward, screwed up half the story and had to backtrack because he'd had a temporary case of verbal dyslexia, but finally he managed to tell them how he'd come across Terrence while he was out in the desert alone. Terrence led him to a cave his mother was in. His mother gave birth to Vvim and then passed away.

Sakura asked a lot of questions about the birth at that point and she determined that Vvim's mother had bled out and that was why she died. "It can happen to anyone giving birth," Sakura said. "Sometimes it just can't be helped. Even in the hospital, the birthing procedure isn't one hundred percent guaranteed, and we have IV and blood bags and medicine."

Sakura probably didn't know how much it meant to Naruto to hear her say that. He was really grateful she didn't condemn him or call him a murderer. He took the death of Vvim's mom pretty hard when it happened, and it was several days before Jiraiya could coax him to talk about it.

After that, he had to tell them about Terrence pleading with him not to make him go back to Suna. Terrence begged Naruto to just let him tag along until Terrence turned eighteen. Then Terrence would be of a legal age to be on his own without being forced into the military and he could disappear with his sister.

Naruto told his friends how awful he felt after lying to Terrence, which led him into adopting an entire orphanage (since the Number One Ninja Uzumaki, Naruto could not possibly just leave those kids without a family and without anything to look forward to), using Jiraiya's money to fund all those adoptions, and then using more of Jiraiya's money to purchase the orphanage and turn it into a privately owned agency (not city funded).

At that point, Sasuke had drawled, "Why am I not surprised? The only one more likely to do something as ridiculous as that is Lee."

Sakura had said, "Well, I think its great of you, Naruto! I never would have imagined you'd do something like that." And of course then it clicked in both his friends' heads.

In unison (Sakura shrieked, and Sasuke spoke in monotone), they asked, "You're Nana Reiss?"

Sakura totally freaked out. "MY IDIOT TEAMMATE IS THE HOTTEST, SEXIEST SINGER IN THE WORLD?! Impossible! Ino is going to freak out! THERE IS NO _WAY_ YOU ARE NANA!! He's a civilian! You couldn't hold a note if it meant your life! I've heard you sing, Naruto, so don't lie to me!"

"I was like, twelve back then, and I was singing the rubber ducky song to annoy Sasuke! You can't judge my voice on that!" Naruto yelled right back. How did things suddenly get back to normal? At least they hadn't yet pieced the Amunet part of the puzzle in… "And it isn't like I _planned_ to get kidnapped by a creepy gay guy with an obsession for leather! Jiraiya left me to go play with some hookers, and Cleo was nearby and heard me humming."

"Nana is a _black man_," Sakura insisted. "YOU ARE NOT BLACK!!"

"I CAN BE A BLACK MAN IF I WANT TO BE!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke ate a cookie and watched the shouting match as if it were tennis. Ah, sweet world… this is what he left Orochimaru for… Er, wait… at least it was mostly quiet with Orochimaru between the screaming of random prisoners who were being tortured…

"NANA IS HOT AND GORGEOUS AND _NOT_ A DORK! YOU ARE A DORK!"

"BUT YOU NEVER SAID I WASN'T HOT OR GORGEOUS! HA! SO THERE! YOU THINK I AM!"

Sasuke sighed heavily. Somehow it always led back to arguing between the members of Team 7. It had always been that way, and probably would always remain that way.

"YOU ARE NOT!"

"YOU KISSED ME UNDER THE BRIDGE, SO I THINK YOU'RE LYING!"

Sasuke grabbed another cookie and one of the glasses of milk. It might be a while, he figured, dunking the cookie as he watched the two idiots scream at each other from a one-inch distance as if they were a mile away from each other. He didn't have much of a taste for sweets, but eating the cookies and drinking the milk would give him something to do for the time being.

After a half an hour of screaming back and forth (Sakura objecting and making some comment to back up her objection, and Naruto insisting he really was 'Nana Reiss'), Anna came back into the sitting room. Her appearance hardly deterred the argument. Anna watched in slight exasperation. "My gracious! If that isn't a sight I don't see every day with the children," she saw the empty plate of cookies (Sasuke was just polishing off the third glass—hey, no one else was drinking it anyway).

"The cookies were very good. Thank you, Miss Thomson," Sasuke said politely.

"Call me Anna, young Master. I'll not have it any other way." She glanced at the arguing two and shook her head a bit.

"Very well, Anna," Sasuke said. "If you don't mind my asking, what does 'Mesa Theroux' mean? I am unfamiliar with the words. Are they Suni?"

"Mm," Anna gathered up the plate and the tray of empty cups, accepting the cup from Sasuke as he politely held it out to her. "It means 'Respectable Grandmother'." Throughout the screaming and shouting, somehow Sakura and Naruto ended up on the other end of the room. Sasuke wasn't sure when it happened, or how, but at least they weren't shouting in his ear anymore. "That Naruto," Anna spoke fondly, as if of a member of her own family. "He is such a good boy. He saved my life two years ago, you know."

"Did he?" Sasuke curiously wondered what was wrong with Naruto… He was like a magnet for people who needed to be rescued from this situation or that one… or maybe the other people were magnets, pulling Naruto in when they needed help?

"Oh yes. I was born here in Suna, but my husband was a merchant so we traveled the world. I was on my way to move back home after my husband passed—poor Paul, may he rest in peace, Goddesses willing—when my wagon was caught in a sudden flash flood. He saved not only my life, but he rescued my camel and my shipment of goods; the dear." She smiled warmly. "It wouldn't have mattered to me if the shipment was lost since it was to be my last one and I had plenty of money in the bank already, but he wouldn't hear 'no'. And when I asked if there was anything I could do to reward him, all he wanted from me was directions to the cheapest hotel in town." She finished up her tale with a repeated, "Such a good, fine young man. There ought to be more like him in this world."

Naruto finally glanced at the clock nearest him—_and panicked_. "AGH! NOW I'M LATE!" He hastily shed his travel pack, not too clear on why he never took it off earlier, and dashed toward the door shouting, "MESA THEROUX!! MESA THEROUX!! Ven que je! Ven que je!"

"Calm down, Master Uzumaki," Anna called to the panicking boy. Naruto turned around, surprised to find she was already in the sitting room. She glanced at the clock. "You should be fine. The graduation test is always done alphabetically by last name, and Terrence is all the way in the 'R's. What box are you looking for?"

"I _mailed_ a box, with lots of stuffs in it!" Naruto said. "Where is it? I mailed it like six months ago, so it better as hell be here, 'cause otherwise I'm going to beat up the ninja mailman I gave it to if I can find him. I think he was number 68791… _did the package come?!_"

"I always put your mail in your office, Master Uzuma"—Naruto was gone before she could even finish her sentence and after a rather noisy crash on the second floor (and a screamed "ow!") Naruto returned downstairs.

"LATE! I've done it, I've become Kakashi, this is NOT GOOD, I'm LATE!" Naruto shouted, shooting out the front door.

"Wait up, Naruto!" Sakura called, hastily bowing and thanking Anna before taking off after Naruto. "Thank you so much for your generosity!"

Sasuke only nodded to Anna before hurrying after. Sakura was the polite one… Sasuke had been polite enough for one day.

xXx

"Rasmussen, Claire," Temari called out. The young kunoichi-in-training stood up in the bleachers and headed down through the crowd of spectators watching the graduation day ceremony. Since the founding of the hidden-in-sand ninja village it had always been a practice that anyone who wanted to watch the graduating academy students make Genin status could turn up. It was only in recent years that they had an actual school to hold graduation at, however.

In the past, most 'academy level students' in Sunagakure were trained by their parents, and deemed fit to be Genin level when their father held a public display of the student's skill and proved their worth to the rest of the city. Sunagakure had certainly come a long way since its founding.

Temari glanced at her brother. If he ever cared to show expression on his features, Temari imagined Gaara would be in tears out of sheer boredom. He'd never shown up at a graduation ceremony in his life—not even his own. At the time of his graduation, Gaara had been too busy slaughtering a bunch of sand shinobi who were assigned to assassinate him, which really put Gaara in too grumpy of a mood to bother showing up for graduation.

Temari felt it was safe to assume Gaara only showed up at this graduation because of the young woman seated next to him. Kagome had not failed to attract attention during the proceedings. One boy had failed the test his own father made (these graduation exams were _so_ flawed, as parents made up their own children's final exam and they were usually designed to be fail-proof so as not to bring disgrace on the family) because he was too busy drooling at Kagome.

The failure had earned a fang-showing sneer from Gaara, proving to Temari that Gaara knew just why the boy was distracted and it hadn't been Gaara's fault either. Even though it was slightly oppressive to the atmosphere to have the Kazekage present, Gaara had so far not distracted anyone like his beautiful companion did.

Claire's father made a showy speech about how Claire had always had the most difficulty with a proper wind-raising jutsu… it was always a showy speech. It was always a lie. Temari's own graduation was the same. Poor Temari, she can't control her wind-raising jutsu, so if she cannot do it today she will not be a kunoichi… And then of course Temari took out her hand-fan, performed the seals she'd had ground in her skull over the course of years, and created a desert tornado. It had gone above and beyond what was expected of her.

She was only asked to make a gentle breeze that would cause a feather to float in one place. … Sure, the feather floated in one place for a few seconds… Then the friction of the sand on sand caused the sand to become molten glass and the molten glass coated the feather, encasing it like a precious artifact. She had presented the item to Baki as a gift later that day and asked the old man to be her husband when she grew up. Baki probably never laughed as hard as he did that day. Then again, Temari had always been very forward about what she wanted—no one could argue that.

Claire—_of course_—succeeded and was given the forehead protector as a sign of her passing.

Claire went to sit back down with her father with a look of pride on her face. Temari wished someone would wipe the smug looks off the faces of all those kids. Maybe if she asked Gaara? Hmm, best not. He might decide it was time for a desert funeral.

"Ravenworth, Kyle." Temari called out. Kyle came down with his father. There was another showy speech. Poor Kyle, he couldn't ever disarm an exploding tag without it blowing up in his face and ending up in the hospital… Well, at least this boy's face was half covered in burn scars, proving that at one point he actually did have trouble with the exploding tags. Still… he passed with flying colors. If Temari had been made Kazekage, she would've cracked down on the school with everything she had. But she wasn't Kazekage. She was just Temari…the Kazekage's sister. And the Kazekage currently holding the position didn't care how they graduated, so long as they never got in his way on the battlefield.

Kyle. Sat. Down. With. A. Damn. Smug. Ass. Look. On. His. Face.

Temari's fingers itched to smack that face. How dare he! No one ever focused on the weak points! It was a flaw in the school system. They were designed to fail if certain circumstances arose, because they would NEVER work on their weak spots. At least Konoha's Genin-academy curriculum always focused on the hardest ninjutsu spell taught to Genin at the academy, and they had a written exam.

"Reiss, Terrence!" Temari sounded a bit harsh as she said it, but no one came at her response. She glanced around. Still no one. "Terrence Reiss!" She called again. Even Gaara was glancing around curiously. Temari spotted the familiar boy (it helped to spend her off days at the orphanage—_hem hem, not orphanage… Naruto's house_—helping out, because she got to know the kids by name and face) sitting with his two-year-old sister on his lap in the very front bench on the bleachers.

"Is he here or isn't he?" Kankuro asked in an annoyed tone of voice. Kankuro didn't know the Reiss family… Temari thought it was particularly ingenious of Naruto to choose the name Reiss. It was Suni for 'whirlpool'. But it would be pretty suspicious if all of a sudden a crap load of Uzumaki brats started sprouting all over Sunagakure.

"Terrence, what are you waiting for? Kankuro is here to do your exam," Temari snapped. She knew what the boy was waiting for, and he knew she knew. Still, he didn't move.

"Hey, kid." Kankuro said, taking a few steps forward, "Let's go."

"No." Terrence said simply.

His sister, man that girl was just the cutest thing ever!, stuck her tongue out at Kankuro. The two of them made a strange sight. Terrence had bright red hair that almost looked like Gaara's. It was spiky (and it looked like blood when it was wet—damn, Terrence was a sexy nearly-seventeen-year-old! Temari would eat him if she could get away with it) and he had the brightest blue eyes to match a perfect sky. Even his many freckles didn't stop him from looking good. They seemed to accentuate his looks like an adorable blush. Terrence always had to wear a load of sunscreen because his pale skin burned very easily, very quickly, and very badly. Terrence said he looked a lot like his father before the man had taken off, leaving his pregnant wife and son alone to fend for themselves.

Vvim looked like a miniature female replica of Naruto, if anyone knew who Naruto was of course. Terrence assured Temari that Vvim simply took after their mother in looks and was not at all related to Naruto. Temari had tanned skin, spiky blond hair, the same amazing sky blue eyes as Terrence and Naruto, and her spiky hair was pulled back with an orange ribbon.

While Terrence wore his usual white tee-shirt and black shorts, Vvim seemed to look extra special. She was decked out in a cute orange vest over a black mesh shirt. She had a short mesh skirt over orange spandex shorts. She even had combat sandals to match her outfit, black soles and orange straps. Temari glanced around for the rest of the 'Reiss family' and saw them sitting in the spectator stands with their brother and sister. They couldn't all sit together, so they were spread out quite a bit wherever they could find a seat. None of them looked so special. Those who were Genin wore their nin-gear and all of them wore their regular, slightly ragged clothing (patches on holes, crudely sewn tears). Vvim's outfit looked brand new.

She was such a spoiled little girl.

"No?" Kankuro asked in disbelief. It was hard to believe only a few seconds of silence had passed. "You can't _not_ take the exam, kid."

"Shut up, you pumpkin brained dufus!" Vvim called out boldly. "Terry don't have to take no test until Nana shows up! Just like you says at the start!" She imitated Kankuro's voice near perfectly, "'Parents will test their student on the student's weakness.' Terry has Nana, and Nana is coming! Wait until he gets here!"

Kankuro's lips flapped like a fish. The many Reiss's in the crowd snickered. Gaara… Gaara actually looked interested. His eyes were actually open enough that he would be able to pay attention. Kagome looked curious.

"I know I said that," Kankuro snapped finally. "But you're orphans! Just because the place isn't city funded any more," the child wasn't going to let him continue on his line of thought.

"NANA WILL COME!" Vvim yelled. "IF YOU SAY HE WON'T I _WILL_ BITE YOU!"

Terrence had an emotionless look on his face, but his eyes sparkled.

Kankuro looked at a loss. Then again, he was never really good with kids when he couldn't use candy bribery to get them on his good side. He probably didn't think to bring candy today… Kankuro looked at Temari, hoping to gain some insight on how to handle the situation.

"Come on, Temari," Kankuro half-whined in a low voice not meant for children's ears. "He's the last one on the list. I've been up all damn night, I'm tired." He glanced around at Gaara and then whispered even quieter, "Gaara's wearing that smile he always wears before someone dies. Something's gotta give, quick, before something dies. And as much as the kid has already insulted me by calling me a pumpkin brained dufus, I don't think it will make anyone happy if Gaara gives the girl a sandy funeral for back chatting."

Temari snuck a glance at her youngest brother and winced. He did have _that_ smile on. He only wore that smile when something interesting was about to happen, and Gaara always seemed to find death very interesting. Not a good thing, but he was their brother and he was raised to kill. What could they do?

Before the two siblings could debate over their options, Terrence was addressing Gaara. "Kazekage-sama," he said in nothing short of a respectful tone (though the brat didn't bother to stand and bow), "is it agreeable to you that we wait to proceed until Nana arrives? He promised to be here."

Gaara's face was unreadable… was he secretly plotting Terrence's death, or amused that Terrence would talk to him? It was a very tense moment in the yard; people watched through narrowed eyes. Some even scooted away from Vvim and Terrence as if fearing his boldness might rub off on them and get them killed in the meanwhile.

And then, as parents and students and spectators alike watched and listened, Gaara spoke. Temari doubted anyone expected what Gaara said. She sure as hell didn't expect it. "I do not know, Reiss-san. I grow bored, very quickly, without anything to entertain me."

There was the subtle hint of a death threat in there, Temari was sure of it. 'I grow bored quickly, and when I grow bored, people die…' Temari was sure that's what he was saying. She didn't know if the adorable Terrence saw that or not…

"YOU WANT ENTERTAINMENT?!" Vvim shouted, climbing down from her brother's lap and shaking a fist at Gaara. Poor girl, have pity on her Gaara… She's too young to understand. "I GOT YOUR ENTERTAINMENT RIGHT HERE YOU… YOU…" she seemed to fail to come up with something offensive right away, but then she yelled, "SNICKERDOODLEPANTSHEAD!"

Temari had _never_ seen the look on Gaara's face that appeared at that moment. On anyone else, it might have been considered unadulterated delight, but Gaara never looked like that. Even when he wiped out a hundred enemy men in a desert funeral, he never wore that look. He smirked. He never…

This could not end well.

And then Gaara asked in a… curious tone of voice? Gaara was never curious over disrespect! He slaughtered people because they sneezed around him. He asked, "You are aware I could make you disappear in less than five minutes, aren't you?"

Vvim sniffed haughtily, "Yeah, so? That's no big deal!" Not a big deal? Didn't she know what Gaara was referring to? Her death! Oh, Terrence, stop her! "I can make a whole bowl of Mesa Theroux's ramen disappear in less than _two_ minutes."

And Kagome was giggling. She was trying not to. Her hands were pressed to her mouth in a vain attempt to stop the laughter, but it wasn't working. Even Terrence looked a bit disconcerted, but he did look resolute. The other Reiss's in the stand looked about to take a stand and fight if they had to—even those who were not yet shinobi.

Gaara sat up straight in his seat and Terrence stood up. Reiss's everywhere were getting to their feet. "Gaara, she's just a kid," Kankuro said urgently.

Gaara merely waved his hand as if dismissing him. Temari thought her little brother looked even _more_ curious now. His eyes were locked on the child's. "What is this 'snickerdoodlepantshead'? It is not in my vocabulary." He inquired, though why he had changed the subject was completely beyond Temari's capabilities to understand, and why he would even _ask_ such a silly sounding question was enough to make Temari's head spin in circles.

Vvim paused for a moment and scratched her head. "I donno. I made it up. It sounded good, though, huh?" She beamed so brightly, it was almost blinding. Jaws dropped all over the place. Was Gaara being… altruistic? Was that the word to go by? Whatever it was, he certainly seemed to be indulging the child…somehow.

"Indeed," he said (how could he get by with such a monotonous voice all the time?) and nodded. "It is a very… interesting… choice of insolence." Okay… she was about to die… Only, Vvim didn't die. Nothing happened for a moment.

"What's insolence?" Vvim asked. "That's the stuff that goes in walls, right?"

"It means disrespectful," Gaara told her.

"Well, 'course!" Vvim huffed and crossed her mesh-clad arms over her chest. "You deserve it too. You think you're all that special, but you're not! It's _my_ birthday, you know. _I'm_ more special. My brothers and sisters even got me this birthday outfit! But you don't even have a sense of _fashion_, 'cause you're wearing yucky looking clothes. What'd you do, bleed on yourself?"

Temari couldn't help it. The strange look on Gaara's face made her laugh (though thankfully she kept it muted enough that he didn't hear—or if he did, he ignored it). Someone needed to stop the child, but Terrence wasn't going to be that one. He was smiling as if secretly amused and proud.

"If you are so special," Gaara stood. Orphans _moved_. Just a few seconds was all it took for the shift, and sixteen orphans were behind the unaware two-year-old. Vvim was the youngest. The rest of them were all at least five, but they still understood. Gaara _smiled_. "Perhaps," Gaara continued, waving to his now open chair, "you should sit in my chair. If I am not special, I should not get a chair, correct?"

"I don't want your stupid chair," Vvim snapped. "When I'm Kazekage, you want to know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make everybody wear orange. If anyone wears stupid yucky _your color_ clothes, I'm going to BITE THEM."

Was Gaara biting down a laugh?

"Kazekage?"

"YOU BET! I'm going to be the greatest Kazekage EVER!" She gave him a cheesy thumbs-up. It was so reminiscent of another blond idiot… God, this child had a secret death wish. "My brothers and sisters even teach me stuff too. I can hit the target with a kunai, and I can do a handstand, and I can BITE."

"Interesting. You seem very intelligent for a child of such a young age. Perhaps you would reward me with a demonstration of your knowledge?" She gnashed her teeth with a rather insane look on her face, and he amended, "I can easily take your word on the biting. You have very nice teeth." She looked proud. URG. Where was Naruto? Was he really going to make it on time? There were several sandstorms in the past few days… he might not have made it in. "Are female handstands done differently than male handstands?"

'GAARA! Did you get possessed and no one noticed?' Temari demanded mentally. This was not him! He wasn't indulgent of weird, deathwishy children! 'Vvim, stop, you're too cute to die so young,' Temari pleaded mentally.

"No, dummy! Everyone does handstands the same!" The other Reiss's were biting their fists. Some of them couldn't hold in their laughter. Gaara still had that weird expression on his face. Temari, for the sake of her own sanity, decided it was amusement. Not 'I'm about to kill you' amusement, but 'this is actually kind of cute in a disturbing way' amusement.

"I do not believe you," Gaara said. He waved to Kagome in example, "Higurashi-san does not do handstands." Temari hoped Gaara wasn't so formal in private. He then waved to Temari. "Temari can do a handstand, but only in certain clothes."

"Piffle," Vvim rolled her shoulders as if stretching, then stretched her arms to her toes and above her head. "I'll show you! Girls are just as good as boys!" She stuck her head in the sandy terrain with her hands braced. She lifted her knees to her elbows and rocked in place for a moment before barely stabilizing, then slowly raised her feet in the air. For a moment, she looked like she was going to tip, but then almost like the sand had its own mind, a little string of sand wound around her feet. It was so gentle, the child didn't notice it.

Of course, if Gaara wanted the girl to notice, he would have let her know it was there. But what was amazing was the fact that Gaara of the Sand was HELPING a little girl do a handstand. Her mesh skirt became upside down on her belly, showing off the child's orange spandex shorts. As the other orphans realized Gaara wasn't going to kill their sister, they took their seats in the stands again. Even Terrence (with a smirk on his adorable face, god, Temari would love to pour syrup on…bad girl, bad…) sat back down because for some reason, Gaara was simply helping himself be amused. He wasn't going to hurt Vvim, even though she'd insulted him, threatened him, and then insulted him again…

"See?" Vvim demanded and then pulled herself out of the handstand and stood up, brushing herself off. She looked smug, but not in the same way the cheater students looked smug when they 'passed' the final exam and got their bands. Vvim looked pleased because she worked hard to learn something and was able to be proud of it.

"I do see."

"Yeah, well, I bet you can't do anything cool like that." Vvim boasted.

Surprisingly, a literal smile crossed Gaara's face. "Perhaps not a handstand. I learned to do them as a child, but have not done a handstand simply to do it for many years." He agreed.

Vvim sniffed haughtily and put her hands on her hips. "Then what good are you? You don't make a good Kazekage if you can't even do anything cool."

"It is your birthday, correct?"

Vvim looked suspiciously at the Kazekage as he knelt and dug his hands in the sand. The orphans tensed, worried that the time had finally come. "What does my birthday have to do with anything?" Vvim demanded. "We were just talking about how you can't do anything cool."

"Ah, but it has everything to do with the conversation," Gaara indulged with a smile. "I never had a birthday to celebrate"—it was true enough, as Gaara spent every birthday in mourning for their lost mother—"but I do realize birthdays are special, because special people make events special. Will you have a birthday meal today?"

"Yup! Mesa Theroux is making birthday ramen and a cake. And my brothers and sisters bought me these special clothes and my new shoes and this pretty ribbon," she pointed to her hair where the ribbon was firmly secured with bobby pins so it wouldn't get lost on a hard wind. "I'm two today, you know."

"Two is a very special year," Gaara agreed so seriously it was hard not to smile. This was truly a day to lock firmly in Temari's memory. She wished so badly to have brought a camcorder. Too bad this had to remain just a memory, because fat chance Gaara would ever act this way again. "Will you have gifts at your birthday meal, to open after you gorge on sweets?"

"My clothes and shoes and this ribbon are my birthday present. And Nana and my brothers and sisters and Mesa Theroux is all going to be there. What else is there?" It was such an honest and sincere statement, it tugged at many heartstrings. Those who were better off than an orphan would get lots of toys and useless shit. She was grateful to have her family and the clothes on her back.

Gaara lifted his hands from the sand, bringing up handfuls of the white sand that was present everywhere in the city. The sand began moving, shifting, floating out of his hands to form a tight, sizeable ball in front of him. Everyone became very tense, but the child moved closer out of curiosity.

"What magic is this?" she demanded, unable to feel the powerful chakra waves flowing out of Gaara and into that ball. On the surface of the ball, particles of sand twitched about. Temari knew that inside that ball, the sand was shifting so fast it was creating a superheated friction that was turning the sand into molten glass. It was something he did when he was bored in his office. Temari wished he wouldn't, because she always ended up carting them to the glass shops to be sold. Sure, they fetched high prices for their incredibly life-like nature, but Temari was tired of haggling.

"I can use chakra to control sand. Do you know what chakra is?" In a way, it was kind of cute; both Gaara and Vvim seemed to be two basket cases having a conversation. Somehow, the two seemed to be able to compliment each other quite nicely. Vvim wasn't afraid of him, and maybe that was why Gaara was so curious over her. Most kids knew before they could walk or talk to stay away from Gaara if possible, and to never insult or be rude to him or else it might mean imminent death for them and their family.

She huffed. "'Course!" Then she paused, threw her lip out in a pout, and said, "I know its made in my tummy, but I can't make it yet. Terry is teaching me though, so I'll be okay. I'll be able to make it when I'm Kazekage."

"That is a very reassuring thought. Do you know what is happening inside this ball of sand?" She shook her head. People held their breath, wanting to know, wanting to hear the soft spoken kage. Temari saw Naruto and two others hurry into the yard, but they all stopped short to watch the display from afar. Temari knew Gaara sensed their approach, but Gaara never looked away from the child's eyes. It was interesting to watch.

Vvim's features screwed up as she leaned her nose close to the ball and tried to see if she could smell what was happening. "It smells like burning. Are you cooking? 'Cause you shouldn't if you are. Stuff that smells that bad, yeah, you suck at cooking."

Gaara put his hand on the ball finally, squeezing his fingers inside. The loose sand fell uselessly, as if simply picked up by a wind that released it. What was left was a sparkling glass kunai that looked like a diamond cut in the shape of a kunai, not glass molded to look like a kunai.

"That was _so cool_!" Vvim shouted, jumping back away from the smirking kage to point at the kunai and shriek some more about the 'coolness' of chakra. "I'm going to be able to do that!" she insisted. "I'm going to work real hard to do that!"

Gaara actually laughed. It wasn't an all-out, oh-my-god-that-was-funny-as -hell laugh, but it was more of a what-an-amusing-child chuckle. However, he definitely laughed, and _everyone_ heard it. Temari almost thought someone had a heart attack in the stands, but a second glance simply showed it was a matronly woman who'd fallen off her seat backwards and into the person behind her.

"Perhaps you will. It is work, but it is not difficult. Temari can coat an item with glass when she tries. Now… shall I give you a demonstration? You did provide me with one. It would seem fair, would it not, that I return the favor?" Her head bobbed up and down in excitement and she bounced in place, her spiky hair jumping and her skirt waving.

"What are you going to show me? Is it cool? Will it be the most awesomest thing ever? 'Cause Kazekage's have to do awesome things, and if you can't do awesome things, you can't be Kazekage, you know!" Naruto was snickering with pure pride as he looked at the little girl.

"I will let you judge me. But… I need assistance. Would your siblings volunteer?" He glanced at the stands as Vvim assured him her brothers and sisters would. "I require assistance only from those who are Genin," he added. "If you are not afraid, like your sister seems not to be, then please come down." Terrence did not stand, but eleven of the other sixteen came down.

Gaara looked back at the child. "You should return to your brother."

"Piffle," she muttered. "Everyone always says I'm not safe." She scuffed her toe on the ground in a pout.

"I did not say anything about safety," Gaara added. "You are less safe in the bleachers than you are by me. Nothing penetrates my shield. But you will see better from there."

Naruto scoffed as if to say 'you wish, buddy, _you wish_.' He remained quiet though. Vvim hopped back to Terrence, reassured that she had a better seat by her brother. Gaara stood up slowly, looking like the incarnate of death for a brief second before a half-smirk twisted his lips in a disturbing fashion.

"Today when I woke, I dressed for the festival, to spend with Higurashi-san." He tilted his head toward the girl in the chair. She blushed as red as her dress. "I did not arm myself with any weapon, because this city is my weapon." Gaara usually never spoke this much, but he looked like he was having fun. Even when he was teaching a few years back, he never spoke as much. Today was going to be a monumental day.

Temari would have to mark it in the pages of history. Maybe she could hire a painter to paint a portrait of Gaara surrounded by happy, questioning children. Of course, Gaara would have to be smiling. Temari could have it no other way, really.

"Therefore, not arming myself with any weapon, the only weapon I have on me is this." He showed the orphans the glass kunai. It glinted with the afternoon sun. "I will not need my sand shield to defend myself from you. I will only use this." A few of the orphans bristled nervously. Vvim whooped and hollered in excitement, cheering for her siblings. "Attack me now with the intent to kill."

Temari closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to watch the children all die at her little brother's hand. She heard k-chink noises and ting noises. And then it was over and… she didn't hear the sound of terror being raised. She heard… clapping? Whistling? She opened her eyes.

There her brother stood, unharmed. There stood the orphans, untouched but shocked. Their weapons all lay in halves; they'd used kunai and shuriken, thrown it at the kage because he asked them to. And Gaara's glass kunai looked still in perfect form. She should have kept her eyes open.

People were amazed and shocked. Vvim looked ecstatic. Everyone else calmed down to hear her when she charged at the kage and gave his knee a bear hug. "THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" Vvim said.

Gaara glanced down at the kid, his expression blank again as if he was trying to figure out if he should shake the kid off his leg or let her stay attached. He seemed to be leaning toward shaking her off. "I appreciate the compliment," Gaara said. "And a very pleasant birthday to you. What is your name, girl?"

Gaara was spared having to shake her off when she let him go to look up at him in delight. "I'm Vvim Reiss."

"Well, Reiss-san, I have been suitably put in my place. I shall indeed work much harder to be a more satisfactory Kazekage." Vvim nodded solemnly. "As a gift of your birth, I will let you earn this kunai if you would like it."

Somehow, it fit. He was the kage. He gave children sharp, pointy objects.

He needed to be educated in 'children-iquette'. Do love child. Do hug child. Do praise child. Do NOT give child sharp, pointy, potentially dangerous objects. Ah well, today was certainly a start, and if Temari's plan worked out as she hoped, Naruto and Gaara would hook up. She'd been plotting to hook the two up since her little brother became so obsessed with the blond. And since Naruto was Naruto… he could be more for her brother than anyone else could. Naruto could be female or male whenever Gaara felt in the mood. (Temari was fully aware her little brother was bi-sexual, even if Gaara didn't realize it yet).

"'Course I'd have it!" Vvim said, but Gaara still didn't give it to her. He held it just out of reach. "Well, are you gonna give me it or not? You said you were!"

"There is one condition." Gaara continued.

"Birthday gifts are free!"

"Everything has a price," Gaara drawled in his monotone. "Particularly when it is from me."

Vvim threw her lip out in a pout. "But I don't have any money and I really want that kunai! Its special like me!"

"I am certain we can make arrangements. Tomorrow, if you wish to earn this kunai you will report to Kazekage tower at thirteen-hundred hours. I do not accept tardiness. Be on time. Understood?"

She bounced on her heels in excitement. "Okay! What time is thirteen-hundred hours?"

"One PM." Gaara looked back at Temari. "I believe it is time to continue." He said.

Temari smiled gratefully at her brother. He hadn't killed the child! "Vvim-chan, go sit in the bleachers now, okay?" Temari asked. She looked at Terrence. He was already getting up; he had noticed Naruto. Naruto seemed to realize that was his cue to come forward. He stumbled toward the crowd with a large box wrapped in one arm.

"Shit, Temi," Kankuro hissed, "don't tell me the blond brat's this 'Nana' guy?"

"And if he is, does it matter?" Temari said in response. "Look, there's nothing in Suni law stating shinobi from other countries can't own a privately run and funded business, so he's within his rights."

"But this gets into military business when he's raising our kids to be shinobi!" Kankuro breathed. "Temari, the council won't like this at all!"

"Fuck the council," Temari snapped as quiet as she could. "Naruto isn't raising them for his own benefit. The minute Naruto adopted them he could have taken them all back to Konoha, but they _love_ Suna, and he knows what its like to love the city you live in unconditionally. He could've taken our shinobi and kunoichi children away but he didn't. And it's thanks to him that even though they don't have to be forced into the military these kids still want to be ninjas. I am personally monitoring Naruto and the children. Yes, the blond twit has the opportunity to steal state secrets, but he himself admitted to me if he wanted our state secrets he wouldn't use little kids to get them. He'd get them himself."

Kankuro pursed his lips for a moment. Then he asked, "You're monitoring it?" Temari nodded. "Alright then… I'll drop it. But if the council finds out, you better be around to explain it."

"The city has benefited from Naruto taking over the orphanage. The orphan death-rate literally plummeted to zero percent since he took over. The kids aren't getting ill all the time, they're not starving to death, and they're not getting themselves killed in training sessions or on their missions. There has been less injuries incurred on missions and in training. These kids are happy to have their nana, so let them have him." Temari ordered. "He changed their fate simply by adopting them. That's a good thing."

"I just hope you know what you're doing letting another country raise our kids." Kankuro muttered.

They turned to watch. Gaara had seated himself again beside Kagome, looking curious. Naruto was rustling through the box, muttering to himself in a low tone. Finally he looked back at his companions. "Sasuke, come-ere," he said in his regular slurred, annoying voice. Sasuke stepped toward the boy and Naruto shoved the box at him. "Just needed someone to hold the box." Naruto explained. Sasuke looked annoyed but said nothing.

"Okay, Terrence, this is gonna be _awesome_," Naruto chirped. "Took me forever to think of what to do for your graduation, but then it hit me and I was like, hells-yeah!" He rustled in the box again. "I've had a lot of teachers. My teachers each taught me a valuable lesson so I thought, 'hey, I can do that too!'"

He pulled out a tiny, ordinary wax figure that was barely more than one-inch tall. It was army green in color. He handed that figure to Terrence. The boy looked at it in confusion. "What the hell, Nana? You're supposed to be giving me an exam, not a toy army guy."

"I'm getting there!" Naruto insisted. He looked at the mess of half-weapons on the ground, then at Gaara. "You're gonna be buying them all new shit, 'cause weapons ain't cheap you know." Gaara merely shrugged. Naruto pulled out a large doll from the box.

"Okay, I need volunteers!" He chirped. "I was gonna do it myself, but then Sakura-chan," he tilted his head at Sakura standing off a ways near the entrance to the yard, "might beat me up for ripping my stitches. Then I was gonna use my other Genin kids, but… well, they're weaponless. I promise this'll be real easy work!"

Parents raised eyebrows and then sent their newly graduated Genin kids out of the stands. Temari was curious now. Gaara was looking more than interested. "What do you need us to do?" Claire Rasmussen asked.

"For the moment, just stand there. I'll explain it." Naruto showed them and the crowd the doll in his hand. "This here is a classic, collectable, state-of-the-art, thirteen-inch tall, military grade figure of a Jounin-class shinobi. I'll be using it to represent Konoha in my example. And that… well, that's just an army guy. It's going to represent Suna." Many people bristled.

Kyle Ravenworth asked, "And how come Suna doesn't get to be represented by," Naruto swiftly cut him off.

"'Cause I said so. Listen and you might figure it out! Okay, so, if we look at Konoha's awesomeness, you find that Konoha has a growing population of one-hundred-fifty thousand people, or something around there anyway. Fifty percent of the population is civilian, and fifty percent of the population is military." He waved the doll around a bit. "Suna has a declining population of sixty thousand people give or take, and forty-five thousand of you guys are military. The rest of it is made up of civilians and traveling merchants who are always gone by the next week."

"The point?" one new-Genin asked.

"My _point_ is that you guys are outnumbered. We're also the coolest, most awesome hidden village ever, but you haven't realized that yet. Take a look at any major hidden city and you'll see that out of all the cities with a kage, yours is the smallest! Because of that fact, you can't just be _shinobi_ or _kunoichi_. You have to be a hundred times better! You have to be able to compete with growing numbers. That's why my test for Terrence is to play a game I used to play in Gym class at the academy in Konoha."

Dead silence. Then… "You want me to play a game?"

"Believe it!" Naruto chirped. "Lets see here… you. What's your name?"

"Kyle," he responded.

"Okay, Kyle, you come here. Sakura-chan, come here, I need your help." The pink girl trotted forward and Naruto tossed the doll back in the box, dragging out a length of rope. Kyle looked nervous. Temari blinked. Yes, definitely nervous. "Sakura-chan, will you tie Kyle's hands behind his back, please?"

Kyle clearly did not want to be tied up. "It'll be okay, Kyle-kun," Sakura assured the boy. "I've played this game a lot of times. You've got the easiest role."

Naruto looked over the crowd again and then pointed to Claire. "What's your name?" Claire told him and Naruto continued as he pulled a bunch of exploding tags from the box. "Sakura-chan, if you'll do the honors of attaching these extremely dangerous and deadly exploding tags to Kyle?" Claire was shaking. Kyle looked panicked.

Temari wanted to laugh.

But parents did not. Kyle's father stood in the bleachers in an outrageous howl. "My son has already passed his exam! Untie him! He doesn't need to be tested again!"

"This is Terrence's exam! He volunteered to help!" Naruto yelled right back. "Besides, this is all elementary crap you learn in school! My teacher didn't let me graduate when I failed to do what was expected of me! I would never let Terrence pass if I thought his weakness would hurt him in the field. You're a shinobi, so I shouldn't have to point out to _you_ that weaknesses always manage to bite your ass when it counts most."

Kyle's father stood stunned for a moment before sitting down again and watching apprehensively. Of course, Temari thought, they wouldn't want to reveal that their child actually sucked. They would bring more disgrace on their family for cheating their child's exam than their child would've brought for failing. Who cares if the danger was too much for the kids to handle…? But that was Suni pride. Temari knew it well.

Naruto looked back at the group. "Okay, Terrence. Your job is 'one against many'. The game is a three-man mission gone wrong. Kyle and Claire are your teammates; Kyle was captured and tied up and exploding tags were put on him, by all these guys here." He waved to the rest of the students. "You need to protect Claire and Kyle while Claire gets Kyle free. The rest of them just have to incapacitate you. If they manage to, then your mission fails and you fail the exam. Once Kyle is free, you pass the exam."

"Nana, there are fifteen people there." Terrence frowned.

"Bah! Fifteen is peanuts!" Naruto grumbled. "I had thirty kids in my class. Try one against twenty-seven, and then complain." He glanced at Claire, Kyle, and Terrence, then at the rest of the students. "Does everyone understand? No killing. You might want to pick up those weapon halves so no one impales their foot. You can use all the space in the yard."

"Yes, sir," was grumbled around.

"Okay, have at it." Naruto said. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke moved back to stand by Temari and Kankuro and watch. Instantly Terrence had to deflect a kunai aimed at him. He shot toward Kyle (Kyle was much shorter, and four years younger) and grabbed the boy's arm.

"Claire, stop shaking like a whiny bitch. Cover our backs and retreat to the far wall." Terrence ordered.

Temari watched as Claire panicked. Her classmates were leering at her. She couldn't move. The girl had frozen in place. Terrence grit his teeth and pushed Kyle toward the far wall. "Keep moving. Don't jostle those tags or you're a dead man, not that it would bother me any." He then grabbed Claire's arm and yanked on it. "You had a choice to become a shinobi. I didn't. Why the hell are you stopping now?" He shoved her toward the far wall and deflected another kunai.

Temari frowned. It could've been over already, but most of the students didn't appear to realize that. They were apprehensive of the bigger, older Terrence. Most of them were only eleven or twelve. One or two of them were thirteen. Terrence was nearly seventeen, and he'd absorbed each and every lesson in like a sponge soaking up water. But with as many times as his back had been turned and unguarded, he could've been taken down.

"This is a mess, Naruto," Sasuke commented.

Sakura frowned, "Temari, do you _teach_ at the academy, or is it just a place to stick the kids for eight hours of a day?" Temari felt slightly offended, but she could hardly disagree. She'd already picked out two who couldn't throw a proper kunai, and one who couldn't figure out how to hold a shuriken. Temari snuck a look at Gaara. He was frowning. He probably saw all the errors too.

Terrence got Claire and Kyle to the far wall and with a wall at their backs, he ordered Claire to get Kyle free. They could barely hear Claire say, "But I'm _awful_ with disarming exploding tags!"

Kyle said, "Terrence, I can get rid of the exploding tags; just remove the ropes for me."

Terrence looked furious. "Claire, stop whining and remove the tags. If he dies, so much the better! The world could use one less Ravenworth; they're all bastards anyway." He performed the hand seals for a wind-raising jutsu and a small, weak, but sturdy tornado swept toward the 'enemy'. It was easily dodged, but it got the others to back off a bit.

Naruto groaned. "Now I feel bad, 'cause Terrence doesn't even really have to try and the girl doesn't know how to remove exploding tags and I don't think the boy can get himself free of ropes—and even I could get free of ropes by the time I was seven!"

"Are they real exploding tags?" Kankuro asked silently.

"They're just paint tags," Sakura said. "It's just a game, after all. The only difference is they're using live weapons, and when we played in Gym class, we got fake weapons that were shaped similar but they'd have colorful powder inside that would burst out and coat the thing it hit."

Sasuke snorted. "I don't think I'd feel safe to give these kids live weapons. I bet their parents feel real good watching this mess."

Temari narrowed her eyes at the end of the yard. Kyle was trying to talk Claire through removing one tag. Claire's hands shook so bad she almost cut the tag wrong, but one of the ten tags were off safely enough. Temari looked at Terrence. He was mostly just acting in defense, but he looked annoyed. He made three sand clones of himself and attacked one of the closer students. The girl panicked and fainted.

Gaara approached Temari and the others. Gaara looked annoyed, which probably meant he was actually feeling like decapitating something. The general order of things told Temari that wasn't a good thing. "I am bored. I will be at Kazekage tower." Gaara said.

"As you will," Temari and Kankuro said in unison. What else could they say?

Sasuke spoke, "This is supposed to be Terrence's test, right?" Naruto nodded, and Gaara paused. "Then," Sasuke continued, "why not give him a _real_ test?"

Naruto asked, "What do you mean?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Where is Fuyumi, and Lee, and Ino? You've got enough of us here to make up the 'many'."

Naruto beamed at Sasuke. "Shit, yeah, that'll really make it cool."

Gaara blinked. "Will this make the test interesting?"

Sakura shifted nervously. "Naruto… I thought you wanted Terrence to pass… If you send us in there, he probably won't."

Naruto said, "Just call the others on the communicators and tell them to meet up here as fast as they possibly can. Everything'll be cool." He stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly, nearly clocking out Temari's eardrums. The 'test' halted and panting students (Terrence hadn't even worked up a sweat, but he did look temperamental) turned to look at Naruto. "All you sucky Genin students get off the field! Some of my friends are coming in. Not you, Claire! You stay."

Sakura had taken out a small walkie-talkie. "Fuyumi-chan. Ten-Ten-chan. Do you copy?" There was a small break as students miserably left the field. Then, a voice from the communicator said, "Fuyumi here. 'S'up, lover?" The person seemed perky enough.

A second voice said, "Ten-Ten here. Yes, Sakura-chan?"

The first voice, Fuyumi, said, "Sakura-chan, before you say _anything_—"

Sakura sighed deeply. "What did you break, Fuyumi-chan?"

"Nothing much," Fuyumi grumbled.

"Ten-Ten, what did she break?" Sakura demanded.

"I actually don't know. We all had to split up because Lee offended Fuyumi." Ten-Ten offered.

"The brat shouldn't have told me to get dressed! I _am_ dressed. He's just lucky I left his manhood intact." Fuyumi snapped.

Sakura looked at the communicator as if by pure will she could make the person on the other end see her dry expression. "Fuyumi," she said finally, "you know Lee doesn't mean anything by it. Look at what _he_ wears all the time! He's always got clothes covering practically every inch of him, and you wear as little or less than possible sometimes."

"Oh, so because _he_ wears a disturbing spandex body suit, I should too?" Fuyumi demanded.

"I didn't say that. You just have to make Lee an exception to all the rules you normally live by. He's always telling Ino to get dressed too, and do you think Ten-Ten wears Capri pants because they're comfortable?" Sakura released the button and waited for a response, rolling her eyes. "I swear, I should be a certified councilor."

"Fine, I won't kill the brat." Fuyumi said finally.

Ten-Ten's voice sounded amused as she said, "You know he's older than you by three years, right?"

"Three years older and still a Chunin. How pitiful." Fuyumi said.

Sakura groaned. "Fuyumi…" she said in warning.

Ten-Ten said defensively, "Not all of us were raised by freaking _machines_!"

"I wasn't raised by machines! My mother simply had high expectations!"

"Where are you guys?" Sakura attempted to ask.

"Your mother was a machine, so admit it already!" Ten-Ten yelled.

"Don't you talk about my mother that way. I'll slap you so hard your grandma will feel it!"

"STOP IT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Sakura yelled. There was dead silence on the other end. "Where are you guys?"

"Lee and I are in a glass shop. Where do you want us?"

"Ino, Hinata, and I are at the Kazekage's house."

Sakura closed her eyes and winced. "Fuyumi, please promise me you didn't break anything at the Kazekage's house." Dead silence followed her pleading. "You did, didn't you?"

"Well, I'm sure it's an improvement," Fuyumi began.

Sakura glanced at Gaara. His eye twitched. "What did you break?" Dead silence. "Fuyumi…"

"They tried to poison me!"

"Let me talk to Ino."

A brief second later, Ino said, "What's up, forehead-girl?"

"What happened?"

"A servant offered Fuyumi a drink so she threw him out the window. You know how she gets when she's in foreign territory. She won't drink from anything except her own canteen."

"So what broke?"

"The window. It wasn't open. The servant is okay though. I checked. I don't think he's ever going to offer a drink to anyone again though."

"Fine, so you're at the Kazekage's house, and Ten-Ten is in a glass shop. How long do you think it would take you guys to find the shinobi school?"

"Lee and I are in the shop across the street," Ten-Ten said. "I'd just have to convince him to stop giving the shop girl a speech about proper clothing and we could be there."

Ino said, "We've got the map, so it shouldn't take too long. Why, what's up?"

"Just get here and come around back to the training grounds and I'll explain everything." Sakura said. She turned off the walkie-talkie, looking very annoyed. She was nothing short of polite as she addressed Gaara. "I apologize for Fuyumi. We'll pay for your broken window." Gaara ignored Sakura's apology.

"How long will I have to wait?" Gaara questioned.

Naruto bounced up and down rather exuberantly. "LEE! Over here!" He called, waving to the boy in green spandex and a Chunin vest. A girl with twin buns in her hair followed behind Lee. Temari guessed that was 'Ten-Ten'.

Lee dashed over. "Sakura-chan, it is great to see you again!" Sasuke snorted in disbelief.

Terrence came over to the growing mass of people and demanded, "Nana, what is going on? It's almost five. We all promised Mesa Theroux to be home by six for dinner."

"Well, you'll probably be late," Naruto admitted. "She won't mind."

Ten-Ten inquired, "So, Sakura-chan, what's going on here? I see we are keeping high company." She bowed in greeting to Gaara. "Kazekage-sama," she said politely.

Sakura quickly explained what was going on to her two companions. She had just finished when Fuyumi and the others showed up and had to re-explain everything. By that time, Gaara had returned to his seat and Kagome.

"So basically," Fuyumi said, "you want us to attack those kids. A Genin, a Jounin, and five Chunin… against an academy student."

"Uh huh," Naruto said. "Terrence, this is Fuyumi, Sasuke, Lee, Sakura, Ten-Ten, Hinata, and Ino."

"This is stupid," Fuyumi said. "The kid'll be slaughtered."

Terrence simply turned around and headed back to his current teammates. He spoke to them quietly.

"The girl already got one of the tags off. Once Kyle is free, then that's it. Terrence just has to protect him till then." Naruto said. "Or you have to knock him out. Whatever comes first."

Fuyumi said, "Fine, then. I guess I'm in."

"I'm in."

"I'll do it if Sakura's going to," Ino said.

"Far be it from me to halt the test," Lee said.

"I-I am n-not sure how m-much help I w-will be," Hinata said, "b-but I will try."

Sasuke simply shrugged.

Ten-Ten said, "I'll help."

"Going to need to give them more room," Naruto told Temari and Kankuro. He went to suggest that Gaara and Kagome move out of the way. A shinobi who was there basically for the purpose of being at the Kazekage's beck-and-call took the chairs away. Temari and Kankuro joined their little brother by the bleachers. People had moved to make room for Gaara, but he did not sit down. Temari knew it was mostly because he hated crowded places and having people breathe down his neck.

Within a few moments, everyone was ready. The Konohagakurians were talking quietly amongst themselves and Terrence was tense but standing in a guarded position a few feet from Kyle and Claire. Claire looked resigned but resolute at the same time. Finally Naruto trilled another loud whistle and the Konohagakurians took out exploding tags from their nin-kits.

Temari watched as they circled chakra through the exploding tag, altering the spell. They were probably making it less dangerous. Claire followed Kyle's instructions to removing the tags with sweat perspiring on her face. The Konohagakurians did not attack, which made Terrence tense up. They began setting exploding tags around Terrence like a mine field; they must have come up with a strategy to use in the short time before Naruto whistled.

It was definitely interesting to watch. Exploding tag after exploding tag was laid until there was a large enough field surrounding Terrence's meager position that they would not be able to jump free. They were trapped.

While the other members of his team of seven lay tags, Lee had dragged log-targets from the other side of the yard. Sasuke finished putting down his portion of the mine field and then helped Lee with the log-target. They dug a hole in the sand with great difficulty and stood one of the logs upright in the hole, burying the bottom half. They tested the sturdiness of the log by wiggling it; it was fairly stable in the ground since they buried it so deep.

Fuyumi worked on tying together the length of cables each of the seven were able to produce from their nin-kit. Terrence watched apprehensively and could be heard hissing, "Claire, hurry it up! How many do you have to go?"

"Eight more," Kyle responded. "Don't rush her, idiot. This is my life on the line!"

"Maybe that's why I want her to rush?" Terrence sneered. "Accidents happen in the field, why not here?"

The Konohagakurians were burying another log end. Sakura and Hinata were using a rock they found to pound a kunai deep into the log, right up to the eye of the sturdy weapon. Ino was tying the end of one of the cables to another kunai eyehole. When she had it set, she called, "Sasuke-kun!" and threw the kunai at the boy. The three ten-foot cables that were tied together flew after. He wound the thirty feet of cable up loosely and easily leapt up onto the top of one of the logs. Hinata and Sakura buried another kunai up to the eye in the second log using the rock as a hammer.

Ino put the second newly made thirty foot cable on another kunai and gave it to Lee, who did the same thing as Sasuke, loosely winding up the cord and jumping up on the top of the log. "Hard as you can, Lee," Sasuke said.

The two began swinging the kunai end of the cable in a wide sweeping circle. The cable moved so fast it kept slicing a whistling noise through the air. They released at almost the same time, and the kunai flew toward the wall behind Terrence, burying in the wood, too high for Terrence to reach. The end of the cable remained in the hands of Sasuke and Lee; they pulled the cable taut and fed it in the eyehole embedded in the log, where Fuyumi and Sakura then wrapped it around the log several times and then held it firmly.

Once it was secured, the invasion commenced. Sasuke tested his weight on the cable, balancing as easily as if he were stepping on firm ground. Assured it would hold, he took out a kunai in one hand and a smoke bomb in the other. He threw the smoke bomb; it landed and quickly formed a smoke screen so that Terrence could see nothing. "Terrence, I can't see!" Claire cried.

Sasuke moved swiftly across the cable, followed by Ino. Lee tested his weight on his and then crossed followed by Ten-Ten. The four disappeared into the smoke screen—they were lucky there wasn't much of a breeze or else the smoke would've disappeared already—and then Kyle could be heard screaming, "LET GO!"

Then Kyle was silenced. Moments passed and everyone watched the cables. Lee and Ten-Ten came back across the two cables and jumped down. Ino and Sasuke were on opposing cables as well as they came out; Sasuke had Kyle on his shoulders carefully so that he didn't disturb one of the exploding tags.

The smoke dispersed when Sasuke had handed down Kyle. Kyle seemed to be unconscious; he was still breathing. Terrence saw Kyle in the hands of the enemy and went pale. Claire burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Terrence! I didn't see them! I swear!"

"STOP WHINING!" Terrence yelled.

Sasuke called, "Are you coming to get him back or not? You still have to get rid of the tags."

"I'm thinking!" Terrence yelled, looking apprehensive.

"Thinking has a price." Sasuke said seriously. "Cut one of the tags. Maybe it will motivate him to think a little faster."

Fuyumi was holding Kyle. She took out a kunai and looked the unconscious boy over as much as she could before deciding on the tag on his left arm. With a quick slice of the weapon, the exploding tag popped and red spread from the center of the tag like blood, even though it was just paint.

"What the hell are you doing?" Terrence demanded, eyes wide.

Kyle's father had objects as well. "Stop this immediately! That's my son!" Kyle's father seemed to think it was real blood. "This is an outrage!" Temari was surprised people remained in the stands, but then again, the Kazekage was present and he hadn't attacked, so they were probably holding themselves back.

"Are you coming to get your teammate back?" Sasuke asked again as if neither of them had spoken.

"Come on, Claire." Terrence said. Terrence was able to jump up and grab onto the cable, then swing himself up onto it. He had to lay on the cable and reach down to Claire for her to jump up to his hand and help her up. It was almost painful to watch the Konohagakurians lay this perfect trap for the two and be able to do and say nothing about it; they were just spectators, if they interfered with Terrence's test, not only would Terrence be failed, but there were consequences for interfering.

Terrence grit his teeth together and then used the wall to brace himself and stand on the cable. He helped Claire up. The girl started forward, balancing precariously. They barely got ten feet on the twenty foot line, far enough to be above the mine field, before Fuyumi began unwinding the cable from the log. She was going to let it slack. Terrence saw it and leapt to the other cable. "Claire, get over here."

The warning came too late; the cable slackened just a bit and she lost her balance. She screamed as she fell, barely able to catch the cable with one hand. She dangled with her feet just two feet off the ground, but the exploding tags were buried beneath sand so she wouldn't know if she was going to step on one until she did, which was why she clung to the cable.

Terrence growled in frustration. They still hadn't really attacked him, yet they outsmarted him. He raced toward the 'enemy' and leapt off the cable, landing next to Fuyumi. He kicked out at her stomach, but missed when she released the cable and dodged the kick. Claire had barely managed to lift her feet up so she was grasping the cable upside down by hands and feet, but she then started slipping toward the ground. She screamed.

Terrence grabbed the cable and yanked it taut again, only now he was in the middle of all the Konohagakurians. Hinata said, "I'm so sorry to have to do this to you," before unleashing a series of punches on Terrence. The hits became doubled because she knocked him into the log each time.

It was quite clear she had held back a great deal, though. Terrence didn't relinquish his grip on the cable though. "CLAIRE, CROSS!" he demanded.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Lee shouted, drop kicking the log from behind. The log literally snapped off and both Terrence, the log, and the cable holding Claire up went down. Terrence was trapped under the log. Ino and Ten-Ten were a distance away with the unconscious Kyle. Sakura released the other cable and it slipped out of the eyehole, falling uselessly.

Claire was trapped barely an inch from the ground, hyperventilating. Terrence was trying to get up from under the log. He managed it but then had to dodge a chakra enforced punch from Sakura that left a crater in the ground and sand flying everywhere. Fuyumi threw two shuriken, one after the other, that Terrence had to dodge. Ten-Ten hit Terrence with a barrage of weapons, pushing him toward the mine field.

Terrence noticed where they were herding him and swore violently. He formed the signs for a wind-raising jutsu, but it just didn't work. He formed the signs for a clone jutsu, but it didn't work. Sasuke and Lee attacked with a fire jutsu and a kunai. Terrence deflected the kunai and ran from the blaze shooting at him. Exploding tags popped under the sand like popcorn.

Terrence was panting. "Goddess, accept my soul if I die today," he muttered, "I didn't even want to be a shinobi." Sakura and Fuyumi gripped each other's hand, lacing their fingers. Chakra flowed between the two of them and gathered in a green glow over their kid-gloved fists. They punched the ground at the same time, and beneath Terrence, the ground trembled before starting to split; the women were remodeling the yard. The split grew to be two feet wide. Sand filled it as Terrence tried not to fall in it.

He stepped away from the split. Hinata was there, apologizing again before unleashing another ferocious storm of hits that knocked Terrence into the hole. He clung to the edge of the hole, his feet dangling in the deep, treacherous hole. Sand just kept falling in, making Temari wonder if the hole had a bottom.

"This game seems pretty dangerous," Temari remarked to Naruto.

Naruto grinned. "Well, it can be when you've got such powerful people playing, but Terrence isn't doing too bad against seven of Konoha's best. They'll make sure he doesn't die or get too hurt."

Sakura and Fuyumi switched sides and did their move again, only this time their hands were further spread apart when they punched the ground. The ground groaned, literally, as it began closing. Terrence barely managed to drag himself out and collapse on the ground panting.

"It's a lot different when you got a lot of screaming academy students playing it in the gym. The biggest threat is you might sprain your ankle or the colored dust from the toy weapons might stain your clothes." Naruto added.

Terrence rolled away as Lee dropped a, "Dynamic leg drop," toward him.

"'Course, they're going easy on Terrence." Naruto stated, even though it was so obvious it was a surprise the very wind didn't scream it. "Terrence wouldn't stand a chance against any of my friends. We leaf-nin are ten bajillion times better than any sand-nin, you know," he boasted.

Gaara actually chuckled—Temari wasn't sure whether to hide or make a call-to-arms in case of a rampant Gaara-kun (not that he'd like to know she thought of him as 'Gaara-kun')—and said, "It is a very interesting day today. I have not been back chatted this many times in years."

Terrence had managed to get out of the way of Sakura's chakra charged fist, but only walked into an assault from Hinata, who still apologized before attacking. Hinata sent Terrence tumbling into Sasuke. Sasuke grabbed both Terrence's wrists and twisted his arms behind his back. Fuyumi was about to hit Terrence in the gut when the stands erupted in the calls of the students in the stands.

"Cla-ire," the kids chanted, "Cla-ire! Cla-ire!"

Claire was shakily crossing cable Sakura had dropped. Temari guessed the child had used a wind-raising jutsu to secure the cable through the eyehole. The chanting seemed to give the girl spirit, because she moved faster and made it to the other side… where Sakura and Hinata were ready to intercept her.

"Not today!" Claire yelled. She formed the seals for the wind-raising jutsu and formed two thin, dangerous tornados that swept fast after Sakura and Hinata. One of the tornados split away from the two Chunin girls and swept toward Ten-Ten and Ino and the unconscious Kyle. Claire raced after that tornado but she concentrated more on the first one, keeping it chasing Sakura and Hinata.

Ten-Ten and Ino had to leave Kyle or risk being picked up by the tornado. The tornado had done its job so Claire let it dissipate and knelt down by Kyle. She was smart enough not to forget that she was potentially under attack, so she threw every ounce of her chakra reserves into a sand shield, pulling it over herself and Kyle. It would only last a few minutes, Temari could already tell.

The crowd was crowing and whistling for Claire's successful run. Terrence looked beaten and bruised and had a bloody nose, but he was grateful looking nonetheless.

"Going to have to K.O. him," Fuyumi could be heard saying.

Terrence twisted in Sasuke's grip, throwing the younger boy off him. "Claire was right," he panted, "Not today."

"Obstinate little fuck," Sasuke growled, getting up. "Figures Naruto's stupid persistent attitude would rub off on his brat."

Lee said, "The youthful Terrence has the right attitude! Never give up, young Terrence! Never surrender to your enemy, even after your last dying breath!"

Hearing that, Gaara murmured, "Your friend is a madman. Are you aware of this fact?"

"There's something wrong with most of my friends. You're a great example of that." Naruto offered. Gaara snorted heavily.

"That girl, Vvim, looks much like you. She has also your lack of intelligence. She does not fear me." Gaara stated, changing the subject as the battle began to change. The seven Konohagakurians were now going right after Terrence, but the bugger was proving to be rather slippery. He defended and dodged, but didn't attack. The Konohagakurians could only wait until the sand shield came down to attack at the other two, so they were trying to knock Terrence out.

"Isn't she cute though? Don't you just want to hug her when you look at her?" Naruto grinned widely with pride.

"Why is she named 'Vvim'?" Gaara asked curiously.

Naruto shrugged. "I'm bad with names." Naruto didn't turn around, but seemed to randomly say, "Look out behind you, Gaara."

Gaara looked behind him. Temari snuck a look. Vvim was beneath the bleachers looking up at Naruto with nervous curiosity written all over her face. She wouldn't leave the bleachers, but she was watching, curious of the man who gave birth to her and who she heard about every day of her life—the man who she loved as her nana—but who she had never met. Since Vvim had never really been formally introduced to Naruto, she was a bit scared of the unknown and afraid to rush out to meet it.

Gaara looked back toward the mock-battle (where Terrence was still dodging and ducking) after deeming Vvim as non-threatening. "She is a mild curiosity," Gaara admitted. "Shukaku admits she would not harm the child. It is a rare day when Shukaku refuses to harm something."

"I'd no idea Shukaku was a girl." Naruto blinked. "Gaara, is there something you haven't told me?"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "I assure you. I am male. If you must see proof…" he trailed off carelessly, hardly seeming to care he'd just offered to let Naruto see him naked.

Surprisingly, Naruto smirked in a perverted manner. "Not in public! I'd hate to share." Gaara smirked as if sharing in a secret joke. Temari was disturbed at the mental image and asked herself why she was plotting secretly to get those two boys together.

Finally they cornered Terrence; at the moment they cornered him the sand shield came down and Claire was revealed. She was working on her last exploding tag. Kyle appeared still unconscious.

Ino broke away from the group after Terrence and went after Claire, wetting a cloth with a small vial of presumably chloroform. Claire got the exploding tag off and went to get the ropes off, but Ino got to her and there was hardly a struggle as the chloroform made quick work of Claire's conscious state of being.

Terrence was _really_ obstinate. They were beating him up but he just wouldn't be knocked out. "Use chloroform on him then!" Sasuke said finally.

"No!" Sakura, Ino, and Fuyumi snapped in unison. Sakura explained, "If we do that, he could slip into a coma from being all beat up."

"Options?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Tie him to a pole," Ino said.

Fuyumi suggested, "Beat on him until he just clocks out."  
Lee was holding Terrence's left arm and Hinata was holding the other. Lee said, "He is very exhausted."

"P-perhaps y-you should q-quit," Hinata suggested warmly to the boy. "Y-you c-can return to t-the academy and t-try again next g-graduation."

Terrence gave her a black eyed glare, looking disgusted at the idea of quitting. "Beat me until I'm unconscious." He told them seriously. "I never wanted to be a shinobi, but the system grandfathered me in, and I will _never_ bring disgrace on my city or my family by _quitting_." He spat bloody spit on the ground before him to further show his discontent.

"Sometimes you have to quit," Sasuke pointed out. "In most cases it serves a better purpose to quit than to let the enemy catch you."

"Yeah, well the enemy already has me!" Terrence snapped.

The statement was followed with dead silence for a moment and then a soft chanting began. "Ky-le. Ky-le." They said. It would've been better for Kyle if they stayed quiet because he was struggling with the ropes and clearly unable to get them off. However, if he got free, Terrence would graduate.

The Konohagakurians wasted no time. Ino immediately took her cloth of chloroform and went to use it on Kyle. The boy gave up trying to untie himself and finally dislocated his thumbs, pulling his hands free and standing up in a guarded position even as he yanked his thumbs back into place. Ino paused in her steps.

Silence reigned for a moment. Finally Naruto beamed. "That was totally awesome! If I could graduate all three of you"—not that Claire was awake to hear him say it—"I'd do it, but I only get to let Terrence pass and it's impossible to graduate twice in one day anyway!"

The stands _erupted_ with cheering so loud it was a surprise the whole city didn't come to investigate. The spectators and the students were cheering for Kyle and Claire and Terrence. Terrence was released and he lowered himself to the ground as Fuyumi and Sakura began looking him over with glowing green hands. Terrence's brothers and sisters raced from the stands to congratulate him.

Kankuro chuckled and handed Naruto a forehead protector emblazoned with the sand-nin symbol. "I was a bit uncertain about you raising our kids at first, but after this, how can I be?" he asked.

Gaara said, "Kankuro, have you no manners? If Kyuubi's host desired something from us, he would take it himself not use little children." He said it so seriously, and so close to how Naruto himself had worded it that Temari nearly laughed.

Kankuro looked shocked at the slight reprimand, but then he chuckled. "Heh, right. I should've guessed."

Naruto looked at Gaara. "Wanna keep quiet about that, huh? Some of my friends are better off not knowing about Kyuubi."

"You wish to live a lie?" Gaara inquired.

"No, not exactly, but Kyuubi won't be in me forever, so eventually the lie will be real and I won't have to deal with it." Naruto said.

"What do you mean?" Temari asked. "You're not really thinking of releasing the demon, are you?"

Naruto scratched his neck. "I've been thinking about it, yeah… but… I haven't made up my mind entirely. On the one hand, he does have a family back wherever he comes from he says. On the other hand, I'm worried he might go ballistic and kill everybody." He sighed and shook his head. "Just don't go spreading word of that around; I'd probably be burned at the stake for it, and I kind of like being soft and chewy. I'd better head over to Terrence."

Naruto turned and walked toward the hiding little girl beneath the bleachers and knelt to talk to her, easily introducing himself and coaxing her out. He handed Terrence's forehead protector to Vvim, probably telling her to give it to Terrence when they managed to wade through the crowd. People were finally leaving.

Gaara frowned. "Shukaku said Kyuubi lies. Kyuubi never had family."

"No offense, Gaara, but Shukaku has been known to lie and manipulate too, so we really can't be sure who is lying to who at this point." Temari said. "I just hope Naruto doesn't do it."

Gaara's face became void of emotion as Kagome made her way over from where she'd been seated on the bleachers. Gaara didn't like talking about Shukaku around Kagome. "I think I know some of them!" Kagome blurted out. "I met them in Konoha!"

Gaara nodded sharply, acknowledging that Kagome had spoken. "I must go to Kazekage tower," he began.

Then a little girl with spiky blond hair bumped into his leg. He looked down at the child, who beamed up a him oblivious to the fact that he could make her disappear should he so desire. "Nana said I could invite you over for my birthday dinner! We're having ramen!" She saw Kagome, seemed to recognize that Kagome had been sitting next to Gaara most of the afternoon, and chirped, "You can bring your girlfriend too! We're going to dinner right now, so you have to come!"

"She's not," Gaara began, but the child was already back at her nana's side. "Why does everyone say that? Kagome, are we involved?" Gaara demanded.

"Well, today really was sort of date material, but then I promised to help you find a girlfriend, so I guess we're not." Kagome replied. "But I won't let you let that cute girl down, so you _will_ go to dinner."

"I'll never get any work done with you around," Gaara told her.

"Then just sit back and enjoy the vacation," Kagome said. Temari smiled. Too bad the council didn't like her. She was good for Gaara. Ah well, Naruto was a perfect second choice.

xXx

Naruto beamed at Terrence as the boy looked in pure disbelief at the forehead protector Vvim was handing him. "You did it, Terry! You're one of the most awesome shinobi in the whole village now!" Vvim boasted, clearly feeling nothing short of pride for her brother.

The other kids crowded around to congratulate Terrence, even as Fuyumi and Sakura were still trying to make sure Terrence hadn't broken a rib or anything. They didn't bother to heal the minor bruises and scrapes using their chakra. Instead they used an antiseptic to clean the wounds and put bandages on the worst of the scrapes.

Finally Terrence was free from the medic-nin inspection and his little sister dove at him, nearly knocking their heads together in her excitement to grapple him. "You should'a seen yourself," Vvim said. "You were like, _everywhere_."

Terrence chuckled and hugged the girl. "Yeah, I was, wasn't I?" he asked her. Terrence looked at his watch and said, "It's getting to be seven thirty already. I sure hope Mesa Theroux didn't eat all that ramen without you, Vvim."

The child's eyes went wide and she squeaked, "She wouldn't, would she?"

Naruto laughed. "Nah! I asked her to make lots of extras, so my friends can eat over." He tilted his head toward where Sakura and the others were conversing off to the side and out of hearing range. Ino looked downright shocked, and Hinata was smiling secretly. Naruto figured Sakura was explaining what was going on in more thorough tones. At least he shouldn't have to explain everything again… Sakura seemed to be handling that part.

"That's good!" Vvim said, and her eyes locked on something behind Naruto. Then she asked, "Nana, can I invite Kazekage-sama for my birthday dinner?" Naruto glanced at other demon host. He was talking to Kankuro and Temari. Naruto nodded. They were already going to have a full house, but he saw no reason why he shouldn't invite Gaara. Besides… if he didn't get Gaara in close contact with the girls he'd brought for matchmaking, then he'd never manage to set Gaara up.

The child raced off and Naruto held a hand down to Terrence, helping Terrence to his feet. "I'm sore all over the place," Terrence groaned. "Sore, and exhausted. I doubt I'll make it through dinner before passing out. Out of all your friends, I think that raven haired chick did the most damage. I can't make chakra."

Naruto grinned. "That'll go away in a day or two. You really did great for only having two years in at the academy. They've done this all their lives and you lasted over two hours. Aren't you going to put it on?"

Terrence glanced at his bare forehead and shrugged. "Aren't you?"

Naruto simply shrugged. Vvim barreled into Naruto's legs, hugging his knee like it would run away. "Nana, I asked!" She said.

"Great! Is he coming?" Naruto asked, using his good arm to swing the child up on his hip.

"Well I don't know. I told him to come and that we're going there now."

Naruto said, "Then you did your job. I'm sure he'll come; you're too cute to ignore you know." Naruto wouldn't be surprised if Vvim grew up to have an ego the size of all of West Sands. But she would undoubtedly be a beautiful woman when she grew up, so it would even out. "Come on everybody!" Naruto said to the kids. "Last one to the house is a rotten egg!" He raced ahead of the kids and they chased him through the streets, laughing and screaming—having fun, like he very rarely got to do in his youth.

He launched over the broken picket fence and held the giggling Vvim in his protective embrace as he rolled in the sand of the yard. "I win!" he laughed, but then Vvim shot up away from him and as screaming children neared the house, she raced toward the front door.

"Nu uh!" Vvim screamed. "Last one inside's a rotten egg!" The kids all passed him as he was getting up and darted into the house, kicking off their shoes with laughter. Naruto smiled.

_This is a family,_ Kyuubi told him. _I have eighty nine children. You have a long way to go to catch up, but you're on the fast track. Sadly you have more boys. _

Naruto trudged toward the house. "How many do you have?" he asked the demon.

_Only one; the rest are girls. You are lucky. You have only four girls._

"I'm not complaining," Naruto told the demon. "I love them all."

_You would have to be a fool not to. _

xXx

Dinner went by quickly, but definitely not quietly as the dining room was filled with people. Gaara and Kagome both came. Naruto sneakily positioned Gaara between Ino and Fuyumi, but since he didn't want to make it too obvious what he was doing, he sat across the table from Gaara with Vvim seated on one side of him and Kagome on the other side.

The dining room was very large and had one very long table spanning the length of it. There were seats enough for thirty people, and only two seats remained empty by the time all the seats were taken. Even though Naruto was seated next to Kagome and he wanted to talk to her—mainly to ask how she got her color back and if she was doing better now, and to ask when Arsendibar had left her in Suna—he still didn't get a chance to talk to the person next to him.

Conversation was shouted throughout the hall; a few scuffles broke out and had to be split up, but nothing really major occurred. Naruto heard Ino suggesting the dinner was like "dining with seventeen of Naruto's clones".

Fuyumi and Ino talked medic business around Gaara. Gaara was assaulted with a bombardment of questions from Lee down the table as Lee made inquiries of the glass economy, though Gaara would not raise his voice to respond. Sakura and Hinata and Kagome shared a corner side of the table, so they managed to pick up a conversation. Sasuke tried not to involve himself whatsoever in the proceedings and dinner conversation, but three of Naruto's boys coaxed him into a conversation involving kunai and shuriken. A lot of kids screamed and shouted for this or that thing, or yelled things at Naruto that might have sparked a conversation if something else hadn't interrupted.

By the time the candles on the cake were blown out (all two of them) and everyone had eaten their sweet treat, it was already ten o'clock PM. Everyone was stuffed—even Naruto was—and there was not an ounce of left over food.

A long lull of silence swept over the table. Vvim was falling asleep on her seat. Terrence got to his feet and said, "It's bedtime guys."

Vvim jolted awake. "I'm awake!" she whined, "I don't need to go to bed!" A yawn escaped her, betraying her.

Anna smiled. "You're awake now, but you won't be when you crawl in that bed. Now march, young lady. Even a kage has to sleep sometimes." Kids scooted back from the table and began picking up their dishes (all dishes used were mismatched or chipped, but no one complained or cursed Naruto for not providing better dinnerware for his seventeen charges).

Vvim had to stand on her chair to collect her dishes, and then slide off the chair with them in hand. Anna led them all into the kitchen where they were heard depositing their dishes in the wash tub. With them gone, Lee burst out, "It was very noble of you to take them in, Naruto-kun! I would have done the same thing myself!"

Ino grinned and seemed to leer at Naruto for a minute, "I think I can see how you could be Nana. You _have_ grown into a sexy—"

"INO-PIG!" Sakura shouted, slamming her fist on the table. "Don't you even finish that, or you're a dead woman."

"Aw," Ino pouted, "come on, Sakura. You can't possibly tell me you haven't seen it. You're the luckiest girl in Konoha—you have two incredibly sexy guys on your team. If you try to tell me you haven't imagined them two going at it—"

"INO!" Sakura was blushing profusely. "No, I have not." And then she grumbled with her eyes squeezed shut, "…Until now…"

Fuyumi snickered and jutted her thumb at Gaara, "Now imagine Gaara-kun in the mix," Sakura fell off her chair.

"Did you just call me 'Gaara-kun'?" Gaara asked in his usual dead drawl.

Fuyumi smiled rather sinisterly at him. "Yeah, I did. And you liked it."

Gaara's expression seemed to be a cross between 'I want to kill her right here and now, in front of all these people' and 'I can't kill her or there may be consequences… but I could make it look like an accident…'

Kagome giggled, "Gaara-kun. I like that."

"Don't start," Gaara growled at her.

Anna came back into the room and smiled at the group of them. "Master Uzumaki, the children would like you to go to the sitting room. When they have cleaned up for bed, they wish to show you something."

"Okay," Naruto said. He got up and began picking up his dinnerware.

"Master Uzumaki…" Anna warned him sternly. He gulped and set the plate down.

"Yes?" he asked, trying to sound innocent but knowing he sounded guilty.

"You are much trouble. Take your friends and retreat to the sitting room. I shall clean up." Anna insisted.

Naruto decided it would be better to just go, so he led the way to the sitting room. Sakura asked, "She doesn't let you clean, does she?"

"Not really. I've tried to tell her a million times I can, but she doesn't listen to me." They entered the sitting room and Naruto went straight for the orange pouf chair, sprawling on it like it were a couch. Naruto was surprised Gaara didn't make an excuse to leave, but then he saw Kagome was kind of glaring at him when he hung back as if to go. Gaara waited until everyone else was seated before choosing a seat as far from everyone else as possible.

With a smirk on his face, Naruto asked, "Now, I believe you were mentioning me and Gaara and Sasuke having a three-some… But you know, as hot as I have to agree they are, I really need some female flesh in there somewhere."

Hinata's face went from pale to bright apple red in seconds. Fuyumi laughed, "I'm sure Sakura would oblige! What do you think, Sakura?"

Sakura glared bloody murder at Fuyumi. "Fuyumi, I'm going to murder you and hide the body!"

"Aww, come on, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, "I mean, you totally made out with me under the bridge…" Shocked faces went all around the room. "Oh, sorry, didn't anyone know about that yet? Yeah, Sakura-chan has incredible lips."

Sakura grabbed a couch pillow from the seat she was on and brought it toward Naruto, struggling with him to suffocate him, even as he laughed. He had to be careful of his broken hand, but she wasn't really forcing him or anything. "Kill… you… Naruto…"

Naruto laughed, "You know you want me, Sakura-chan!"

Even Lee was laughing quietly. Lee was reassured that Sakura did not want Naruto—whether or not they kissed under the bridge (which was hearsay since no one saw)—because she was mad at Naruto.

"You—perverted—monkey-brained —turd!" Sakura growled.

"Hey, there are kids present!" Terrence called from the entry way. "Keep your clothes on."

Naruto and Sakura stopped immediately and everyone looked at the seventeen kids as they filed into the room, each in their scrappy plain pajamas. Vvim was half asleep in her brother's arms, hardly able to keep her eyes open.

When the kids were settled beneath the very large painting on the high wall, the one with the velvet cloth cover Naruto had pondered over, Terrence said a quick, "To you, from us." He reached up and yanked a pull cord; the curtain moved aside and Naruto immediately knew that was what they spent the repair money on.

It was a beautiful painting, and very lifelike. The subject of the painting was Naruto, only Naruto hardly felt like he knew the person in it because that Naruto looked really… amazing, was the only word he could come up with to describe the Naruto in the painting. The painting seemed to bare everything about Naruto to the world, and at the same time, it hid it all.

He was seated atop a sturdy table. One of his legs swung over the edge of the table, dangling barefooted; his other leg was folded up in a half pretzel. He was wearing his orange jump suit jacket, but it was unzipped, revealing a torso covered in mesh-net. His legs were covered in orange pants to match the orange-and-black jacket. Beneath his bare foot, his toes rested on the edge of a basket of ripe, large oranges.

His face looked very peaceful—almost benevolent—with his eyes closed and his lips just barely parted. His blond hair almost made it look like he was floating under water; it didn't look messy and in disarray, but it looked perfect, like it were natural. His whisker-scars didn't even look awkward on him there. His necklace from Granny seemed to have the same effect as his hair, the chain of it looking like it was floating and the three pretty crystals seemed to glitter. His forehead protector was on his head, polished but not new, with the cheerful leaf-nin symbol standing out in the center of it amongst blond hair that floated around it.

His hands held an orb out in front of him. Inside the orb was a beautiful tree littered with orange dots and green leaves. Light from the orb seemed to light up Naruto's face with an uncommon glow, almost making it seem like the Naruto sitting there wasn't completely human. It made Naruto remember those demon fangs he now had; he'd managed to get away with not wearing the cloth over his mouth by not opening his mouth too wide. And then there was the whole demon eye he couldn't get rid of.

He wasn't really human, was he?

Surrounding the image of Naruto was smaller images, like a frame, of ten other people. Two long, rectangular boxes at the top and bottom, and three square boxes down either side of the painting. Those ten other people seemed to make up the missing pieces of the main Naruto's humanity. Where the main Naruto seemed ethereal, these people each showed a portion of his personality that seemed to make up who "Naruto" was in entirety.

'Naruko' was in the upper right box, lying on her stomach with her elbows propping herself up. Her hair was in the familiar pig tails and the long blond hair pooled around her, but she was the completed form of her. She wore an orange sundress and tan sandals, her feet kicking the air playfully. She had an ice cream cone in one hand that she was licking on, and an orange rubber ball in the other hand. Her bright blue eyes seemed to stare out of the portrait, as if the girl saw the people outside the portrait and was saying, "I'm bored, so let's play a game."

The upper left box displayed a portrait of 'Honey'. Honey had skin as gold as her name, with eyes like sweet, melted chocolate; her lips were shining as though painted with lip shine. Her black hair was thick and mussed, as if she'd spent the night tussling in a bedroom somewhere. She wasn't dressed very well. She lay on her back in the frame, a sheer piece of garment tied shut only by a loose ribbon on her ample bosom.

Honey wasn't wearing a bra; it was easy to tell that much by looking at Honey's chest area and seeing through the sheer soft orange cloth. The ribbon was painted to dangle over Honey's visible breast just where her nipple would be, though that didn't make Honey look any less provocative. Beneath Honey's breasts and all of her stomach was visible for the world; her long fingers barely teasing the surface of her flesh. Her lips were curled in a coy smile. One of her legs were jutted up in the air, the other lay flat. The sheer orange robe she wore was bunched up around her rear end. She wore sexy lingerie of the same soft orange color the robe was painted as.

Honey's expression clearly desired a different kind of 'play' than the playful Naruko.

Beneath Honey's box was one of the square boxes. In that box, painted to be seated up against a wall, was Gen. Gen wasn't cute like Naruko or sexy like Honey. He was gruff looking with greasy, nearly black hair, pale skin, thin lips, and sallow cheeks. His dark eyes seemed shadowed, like one who had seen too much in too short a time. His lips were forming a scowl. He was dressed in all black and had bloody weapons lying all around him. Blood splashed his greasy cheek and dripped from his hair. In his hands he had a dagger covered in blood, but it almost looked like he was wiping the blood off on an orange kerchief. He looked like an escaped convict.

Beneath Gen was another square box, this one harboring a portrait of a ditsy looking bookworm. Her name was Pepper and she had the bushiest brown hair possible for one person to have. Her clothes were too big for her tiny form and she had thick glasses tipping off her long nose. She wore a brown skirt and a beige shawl, almost appearing as if she were dressed by an old lady. She was kneeling down to try to pick up an orange book that must have dropped from her bundle; the rest of her stack was tilting precariously the other way.

Underneath Pepper's box was Ico. He was sitting on a dirt path, his clothes ragged and torn, his feet bare. The youth was dirty as if he hadn't bathed in ages. He had messy red hair and sparkling green eyes. He was leaning up against a crossroads sign with a map in his hands—a map he was holding upside down. On Ico's left cheek was an orange star marking. The confused boy looked ready to tear the map up, though anyone else would have simply chosen the right path, because that road led down a cheerful, not-dangerous-looking field, and the left path walked straight into a dark, scary, think-twice-before-entering forest. Even the crossroads sign clearly labeled which path to take. The crossroads sign pointing right said, "Home", and the crossroads sign pointing left said, "Danger".

Lying along the bottom of the frame in the left rectangle box was Nana. The black skinned man had all of his hair done in corn rolls. He wore a sexy black silk shirt and tight leather pants. He lay with an exasperated and exhausted expression on his face, brown eyes barely visible. Random orange toys surrounded him, and an orange baby blanket covered part of one of his legs as if the place Nana was lying was a spot for all toys to be thrown when done playing.

Beside Nana's box was Amunet's box. She was dressed in sturdy deerskin pants and had a deerskin vest buttoned on, showing dark chocolate cleavage. She was also lying down, but she was on her side with Hugo the Tearblade in her hand. A fur-lined deerskin cloak lay beneath her. Around her neck was her unmarked forehead protector. Her short curls fell in her eyes, even though there was an orange ribbon in her hair supposed to keep it in place. Her nin-kits were secured to her tense body; she looked both ready for a fight and completely relaxed at the same time. Her wrists had the guards that kept vials of various substances in them.

In the square box immediately above Amunet was Ashe, a smirking boy with white-blond hair slicked back. He had pale skin, was small and thin, and had gray eyes. He sat cross-legged, chin on one hand, his other hand raised at eye level. If the portrait could move, then the gold coin in his hand would be flipping back and forth from finger to finger. He was surrounded in what could easily be assumed stolen money and goods, since his torn orange tank top and his loose white cotton pants spoke of little wealth. Ashe didn't even have shoes, as was clear by how his feet were filthy. Still, he looked happy amongst his treasures.

Above Ashe was Myrn. She was the last of the females. She had a completely emotionless expression on her face. She didn't wear much in the way of clothes. She had on what appeared to be a bra made of black leather, and a skin-tight leather skirt barely reaching her thighs. Dangling from the bottom hem of the leather bra, as if to cover more flesh, were strips of orange beads. The pale flesh of her legs showed through her fishnet stockings.

Myrn's hair was platinum colored, held up high in a ponytail, though the length of it still hung to her waist. She was crouched as if ready to pounce like a cat on a mouse. Her hands clutched the ground, the nails creating gouges in the dirt. Attached to her thigh was a blank forehead protector. Attached to her other thigh, and to her backside, were nin-kits. Sharp, circular blades lined her wrists like bracelets, looking so dangerous it was a wonder she didn't cut herself on them.

The last male was in the box above Myrn, and below Naruko. Tek had a lonely stare on his face as he looked off at nothing. He almost seemed like a ghost because he was so pale, but he had orange hair and blue eyes. He hugged his legs to his chest, his chin on his knees. His clothes were so ragged they were transparent, and not in the way Honey's robe was either. These were once sturdy looking clothes. He looked malnourished and frail.

It was a beautiful piece of art, and it truly displayed each of the ten identities he created while he was at the Sneak-Thief Mastery School perfectly. No matter what the place or the situation, and no matter what kind of people he had to integrate with, using one of his ten identities (if he couldn't be himself of course) he could infiltrate the place with ease.

Naruto couldn't stop the ironic smile cross his face when he noticed someone had written on the wall in black, bold permanent marker, "Do yoo no where yor nana is?" Someone else had squiggled out the misspelled words and wrote the correct spelling beneath it. When Naruto had adopted the kids they became his children even if some of them were as old, nearly as old, or even in Terrence's case, older than him. By law, they were his kids. Being that he was male, if they _were_ to get attached enough to call him by anything, one would expect it to be a variation of 'father'.

Instead, the children called him 'nana', the respected Suni title for someone who plays the role of the father, the mother, _and_ the nursemaid, because most of the richer families in Suna hired nursemaids for their children and parents played a very small role in the raising of the children. Someone who played all three roles (bread-winner, house-maker, care-taker), mostly those who were single parents of the lower class society, usually earned the title of 'nana'.

And they didn't call him nana because of his fake identity 'Nana Reiss' either, because he'd adopted the kids _before_ he went to the Sneak-Thief Mastery School; they called him that _before_ he left them. He created Nana Reiss with the children in mind.

"Well, what do you think, nana?" one of the boys asked.

Naruto smirked and slipped a hand around Sakura's waist. "See that, Sakura-chan?" he asked her, loud enough that everyone could hear him. "That's proof right there that I'm dead sexy! Feel free to drool at me any time, and if you ever want a four-some between me, Sasuke, and Gaara, just ask! I'll have 'em naked for you faster than you can say 'hot mama'…"

Sakura glared death at him. "Naruto…" she warned him, "I… am going to _kill_ you!" Still, her face was beet red. He laughed and made a dash for the exit. His friends were all chuckling at him (with the exception of Gaara who looked mildly constipated—or disturbed…it was hard to tell with him…). The kids looked like they had expected such a response. Terrence pulled a second cord and the orange velvet curtain closed over the painting.

Gaara turned to look at Terrence, a measured look of curiosity on his face. "Why would you waste money on such a thing?"

* * *

**Thanks to: **Chibi Miko (welcome to the story! I wish you luck on reaching the end, 'cause it'll be a while), loki09 aka ttre208 (welcome to the story...you didn't have to read it all so quick), Rebel Reader Bitch, supersillee06 (Kakashi is dead...?), yumeniai, Dark Inu Fan (we'll just have to wait and see), Arcander (it does serve a purpose), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Kagome is a bossy girl), zoey tamagachi (Its not unfair... I did say who she was going to be with a while back, and then changed my mind and now those who don't know have to wait till it starts happening to figure out who it is), Akina no Akuma (that's okay... I have a repetitive habit too: I update... seems fair), DarkRavie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 48 after I posted chapter 49.

ANSWER: This chapter got to be too long, and I didn't have the heart to split it into pieces. Technically its not finished, but as stated at the beginning of the chapter, any words not specifically defined are up for contextual interpretation.

_1, 2, 3, 4, tell me that you love me more, 5, 6, 9, 10... (leave a review to prove you're sure)..._


	50. Nosy Sakura

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

STORY NOW ADDED TO 10-REVIEW RULE LIST.  
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THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS STORY A HIT!

* * *

Chapter 50: Nosy Sakura

Sakura tossed and turned for hours that night. Sleep was a fleeting thought that she couldn't quite get her fingers around. Her brain was a whirlwind of thoughts, and most of them were about Naruto. He really did amaze her. He'd gone off to find Sasuke and in the process he saved the lives of seventeen children and an elderly woman. He'd saved them from having to live as he did, without family.

Even if Naruto hadn't brought Sasuke back, Sakura was still happy. She tried again to grasp a hold on sleep, but it slipped away again, forcing her to shift herself on the bed, punch the pillow a few times, and reposition her head again.

How and when did Naruto grow to be such a great person? It was hard to look at him and see anything except a trouble-making scamp who lived in a rundown apartment building in one of the worst districts in town. Secretly, she was glad he couldn't keep living in his old apartment especially after seeing him whipped like an animal in prison. That area of town was no place for a good boy like Naruto, though he was still a trouble-making scamp.

She turned on her side and kicked the blankets off her body. There she was, in Naruto's bed, in his house… he was only a few steps down the hall. She couldn't possibly be more safe unless she were to crawl in the bed he was sharing with his little girl Vvim. Why couldn't she sleep?

She'd heard a lot of things in prison that she would rather not have heard. She'd seen a lot of things she wished she could forget. Things had been done to her that made her entire body tremor in fear of it happening again. In the showers, criminal women—ex-Jounin kunoichi, stronger than her by far, and in numbers she couldn't match—did things to her she never wanted to feel again. It would have happened on a daily basis, except a little girl made it all stop. A little girl walked over and said, "Stop hurting her," and the ex-Jounin kunoichi all backed off as if they'd been afraid.

Just thinking of it made Sakura's flesh tingle and burn. She shifted on the bed yet again in discomfort, trying to find a place on it that wasn't superheated. Was Ino having this much trouble sleeping? Ino, Hinata, and Fuyumi were at the Kazekage's house. What about Lee? Lee and Ten-Ten had gone to the Dawn Shard to check into a room. Naruto's house was big enough for them to stay, but everyone liked their privacy and the room with the beds they would have stayed in was nothing more than a very long co-ed room with bunk beds aplenty.

Sakura figured she would be staying in that room when she said she would stay. She needed to stay so that her injured friend had a medic available if he needed her. Sasuke hadn't stayed. He gave the feeble excuse that Kakashi was already going to kick his ass for not returning to the inn they were staying at by ten PM (even though he hadn't seen Kakashi since shortly after they checked into the inn days before) and then took off without bothering to mention what inn he was staying at. Gaara and Kagome had left, with Kagome arguing that Gaara needed to go home and sleep.

Sakura sat up and rubbed her face and neck, a wave of exhaustion creeping up on her but staying a bare pace behind. She thought maybe if she got a glass of water, she could sleep. She slipped out of bed and adjusted her sleeping shorts beneath the oversized tee-shirt. They were twisted up from her tossing and turning. Out of habit, she checked to make sure the dagger on her right thigh was secure. That was one thing Kakashi taught her: never be without a weapon, even in friendly territory. Even when she was at home with her aunt and uncle, she would _not_ be caught without the dagger on her thigh during sleep.

Kakashi had a habit of climbing through locked-and-barred windows. She tried everything she knew to keep the older man out of her bedroom at night, but he was slippery. When he first started to do it after he took on their training, she immediately thought her perverted sensei was using his status as her teacher to be a peeping tom and just pretending he was training her.

It wasn't until her aunt and uncle's house was broke into by a couple of civilian wanna-be tough guys who wanted to rob them that Sakura realized the lesson (which had been explained quite clearly to her several times before—even though Kakashi wasn't usually in the habit of explaining himself multiple times) Kakashi was trying to teach.

If Sakura hadn't been home that night she really had no idea what might have happened to her aunt and uncle. They had been thoroughly shook up. They wanted to move out of the neighborhood, despite that it was peaceful in comparison to the neighborhood Naruto lived in. Instead, Sakura convinced her aunt and uncle to stay but to get a better security system installed. To that day, Sakura still wondered if Kakashi hired those thugs to get his point across, or if they truthfully were trying to rob her civilian aunt and uncle. It was awful convenient to happen when she was home…

Then again, she did get home unexpectedly late at night from a mission. Her aunt and uncle hadn't even known she'd come in because it was so late and she didn't want to wake them up, and it was only a couple hours after she settled into bed when the burglars decided to pop in for a visit (and get beat up). Her aunt and uncle hadn't even cared that the entertainment center in the living room got smashed in the process. They were too busy being happy that "their favorite girl was so tough".

Sakura tiptoed to the bedroom door and inched it open. Unlike the double doors to the living room on the first floor which slid open, the bedroom door was hinged. She could hear the hinge popping as the dry, rusty metal was forced to move.

Out of habit, she checked the hall for people before entering it, and it was habit that kept her close to the wall as she walked down the corridor. When she reached the opening for the staircase, she tiptoed as lightly as she could down the stairs. They were old, uncarpeted like most of the house Sakura had so far been privy to seeing, and she could not avoid the noisy creak some of the steps made as she stepped on them.

Naruto had apologized to her profusely as he showed her where she could sleep in privacy. He was very embarrassed at the state of the house. He said he knew it was pretty well run down, but the kids didn't listen when he gave them money to do repairs. Instead they spent the money on the painting.

Sakura really didn't know why Naruto was apologizing. The house was in better condition than the apartment building he grew up in. One of the many rather shallow reasons Sakura had as a young girl to disassociate herself from Naruto was because he couldn't afford to live in a normal house. She'd always been very good at coming up with reasons why she shouldn't talk to Naruto. Looking back on that, she found she was disgusted at how she'd been.

Now, she was happy to have him as a friend. She was _lucky_ he would associate himself with her. She couldn't even imagine it being the other way around anymore. She used to think he was lucky to be teamed up with her. Oh how wrong she had been back then…

She made her way into the dining hall, walking the length of the very long table toward the kitchen door. She entered as quietly as she could and looked around. The only reason she knew the room was the kitchen was because it had been stated earlier. It looked very unordinary for a kitchen. The faucet was a well pump mounted onto a stone basin. She sighed.

She had forgotten for a moment that Sunagakure was a desert city. Water wasn't exactly in abundance. She should have remembered that from her trip to the bathroom earlier; she had to use a public outhouse. It stunk so bad she nearly vomited (though after seeing her green face, Naruto told her Sunday was 'waste retrieval day' so the city paid waste management crew would go to all the outhouses and replace the waste bins—not that hearing that was much reassurance), and washing her hands was equally as frightening, as the only thing provided was a bucket of cold, sudsy water that was replaced only once a day.

It wasn't hard for her to figure out why Sunagakure was a declining population. She could imagine how full the hospital must be with diseased patients. She doubted she would want to enter the place unless she had a full biohazard safety suit on.

"Can't sleep?"

Sakura jumped at the sudden question from behind her. She whirled around, hand darting to the dagger strapped to her thigh, but relaxed when she realized it was just Terrence. She shook her head. "No… I don't usually have this problem, either, so I'm really at a loss at what to do."

"Let me guess," he smiled curiously at her. "Your first thought was 'Maybe a glass of water…'?" She nodded. "That's what most people think." He moved around her and took a glass out of the cupboard, then pumped the handle on the well pump up and down until water started leaking out into the glass. When the glass was half full, he stopped pumping and yet water still trickled into the glass until it was three quarters full. "Here," he told her, setting the glass on the island counter.

"Oh… thank you…" she said automatically, though she wasn't sure if she wanted to drink it. She slid onto one of the stools and folded her hands around the glass.

"It's safe to drink," he told her with a quiet laugh, as if he'd heard her hesitant thoughts out loud. "I've been drinking from this pump for two years and I haven't gotten sick once." He slid into one of the high stools around the counter.

"Oh, I'm not worried," Sakura lied hastily, but the amusement on his features told her she hadn't lied well enough to fool him. She turned the subject away from her by asking, "Can't you sleep?"

"I'm a light sleeper. I woke up when you creaked down the stairs."

"I'm sorry," she blushed and sipped the water. It didn't taste like disease, but she knew that didn't mean it was safe to drink. It probably was a bad thing to think, but she couldn't wait to return to Konoha. She'd been in Suna for less than a day and she already was antsy to go home. Except… she wouldn't get to go home for six months…

"It doesn't really bother me," Terrence said. "With all of Nana's muttering, I'm surprised I got any sleep at all, to tell the truth."

"Is Naruto _really_ Nana?" Sakura asked the boy. "I mean… I've known Naruto all my life and… well, I'm just having a hard time picturing it."

Terrence was silent for a moment, staring at her in the darkness. All they had for light was a nightlight on the wall, but even though that light was tiny, it still cut through the darkness enough to light up both of their faces. Finally Terrence reached out and took Sakura's glass of water, drinking it all down. He set the now-empty glass on the counter and got up. "Come with me," he told her.

She obeyed, following him out of the kitchen, through the dining hall and the entrance hall into the living room. Terrence turned on the lights in the living room and made his way over to the painting covered with the orange velvet curtain. "Come," he told her.

Again she obeyed, moving toward him as he pulled the long cord that opened the curtain and revealed the painting. Sakura looked up at the picture again and felt the familiar rush of irritation seeing the image of the girl in the upper right corner. Sakura didn't know who the girl was, but she knew the girl had to be the same person who she saw that day at the bridge. The girl who kissed Sakura and made Kakashi think Sakura was a lesbian…

"What do you see when you look at this?" Terrence asked.

"Um… Naruto. Then there's Nana… or, Naruto, if he really is Nana… And Amunet Reiss. I don't recognize any of the others."

"Look harder," Terrence told her.

She looked. Her eyes went from face to face; what was she supposed to be seeing? She looked at the one who looked like an escaped convict, searching the picture for whatever it was she should be seeing. The only color that wasn't white, black, or blood red was the bright orange kerchief.

Her eyes darted toward the girl who made Sakura look like a lesbian. That girl held a baseball sized orange rubber ball in her hand and wore an orange sundress. She was eating orange ice cream.

Sakura looked at Nana. Orange toys surrounded him. Nana's sister Amunet had a wide orange ribbon in her hair.

She let her eyes glance at each and every person depicted in the portrait. They all had something in the same shade of orange that Naruto had claimed as his favorite color, even though it was a color Sakura had never seen worn by anyone else in the world (except now Vvim wore it). "Oh…" she couldn't help but murmur softly. "Oh, _oh_," realization was truly a shocking thing. "They're… _oh_…"

She looked down at the scribbling on the wall. "Do you know where your nana is?" it read.

"You get it now?" Terrence asked her.

"I think I understand… more than I feel comfortable with, actually. He was always really good with transformation jutsus. All the adults would cringe when he came around, as if they were anticipating him to use his stupid Sexy Jutsu at any moment. But now I have to beat him up, and I don't want to."

Terrence asked, "Why would you have to beat him up? Because he hadn't told you of his fake identities?"

"Two reasons," Sakura started, "and no, that's not one of them. Number one, he used that one," she pointed to the playful girl in the upper right corner, "to make me look like a lesbian to our Jounin leader." Terrence chuckled. "It's not funny. Two, he's dating Sasuke-kun under the identity of Amunet. Now, I have to beat him up 'cause Sasuke-kun's _supposed_ to date _me_."

"You don't sound like you really want to date him, so is it because you are jealous you would beat him up, or because it would be habit?" Terrence should have been a psychiatrist. She thought about that; didn't she want to date Sasuke? She could have sworn she did. After all, she was president of the Sasuke Uchiha Fangirl Club (Ino would snort and say '_co_-president', but Sakura wasn't paying heed to her inner-Ino). Didn't being a part of SUFC mean she was required to actually like the person?

"I guess, habit actually," she admitted honestly. She smiled ruefully at Terrence. "Just don't tell Ino; she'd have kittens if I told her I was giving up on dating Sasuke." He nodded; she turned the subject away from herself again. "If you don't mind my asking… what do you guys have against Gaara-san? He looked upset as he left. He didn't even say goodbye to Naruto."

Terrence turned his eyes up to the picture. A frown fixed on his face. "Oh, was that an expression of upset? I thought it was constipation."

"Of course it was an expression of upset," Sakura sighed.

"He asked us why we had the painting commissioned. More specifically, he asked why we wasted money on it. Do you have a family, Miss Haruno?" he asked quickly.

She was startled by the question enough to answer. "Yes…" she said.

"Imagine your family giving you up to an orphanage. Sounds unbelievable right?" She couldn't bring herself to answer. She wasn't sure if it was a straight question or a trick question. "Imagine your family dying away until the only one left is you, and you have to go to the orphanage because you have no one to care for you. Imagine being _adopted_, and then _given up again_ whether it is because your new parents died or simply couldn't keep you or didn't want you. And being adopted again, and given up again, until you've lost all hope of ever even having family."

"It sounds awful…" Sakura shuddered. Was that what it was like for Naruto? Come to think of it, she didn't really know too much of his home life as a child. She knew he lived on his own since he was at _least_ ten. Did he have foster parents? If he did, what were they like?

"It really is a terrible thing. And to add injury to the insult, by law, all children in a shinobi village who are orphans are forced to join the military."

Sakura nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. She had a choice. She begged her aunt and uncle to let her go to the academy. She wanted to go because her parents had gone. Sure, her aunt and uncle had their reservations about her going, but in the end they gave in and let her go.

"Naruto told us about that," Sakura told Terrence. "He felt awful about lying to you."

"Now imagine yourself as an orphan; you've been in and out of the orphanage ten times. Your foster parents decided they didn't want you, or maybe they died on a mission… Whatever it is that happened, the end result has left you hopeless and homeless, with just an old building and a handful of broken other kids. An old crank in the city's employ comes by to check up on everyone on Mondays and Fridays, but no one really cares what happens to you so long as you show up for shinobi training at seven AM every day. If you don't show up, you better be dead because otherwise its twenty lashes for disobedience… Imagine _that_ as your life. You're forced to pick pockets just to make sure you can eat, and if you get caught picking pockets, they'll cut off your hand."

"That's terrible!" Sakura gasped. She could hardly believe her ears. Did Naruto have to live like that? Was that why he was such a prankster? Was his run-down apartment complex the orphanage of Konoha? She refrained from entering certain districts of Konoha unless she had to, because she knew they were bad districts. Only ANBU or very high ranking Jounin dared to enter District EE, because it was simply too dangerous. Chunin who dared enter District EE were practically ground up and spit out as hamburger meat. Naruto's old apartment was just barely next to District EE, but it wasn't quite inside it. And no one, not even the Kage, dared to enter District P without prior invitation from someone 'on the inside'. If they did go in without the invite, they'd find themselves leaving without everything they'd carried in—including clothes.

"That's life from an orphan's perspective." Terrence explained.

"But there should be laws preventing this sort of treatment!" Sakura exclaimed. She was barely able to keep her voice from waking up everyone else in the house. Just the thought of her friend having to steal for food made her feel ill at ease. What was his life like? And then to have most of the students hate Naruto simply because he was weird or different or an orphan or whatever reason they decided to use to excuse their hatred for the day… they were all just making his life worse…

"You can't make a law against something you won't admit is happening. If you make a law, you're admitting to the crimes. So the people of the city would turn their nose up at orphans and imagine us as greedy. They would imagine the orphan stumbling down the street with a dirty, bloody rag pressed to an infected stump as having gotten what he deserved. If the kid didn't bleed out by morning, then he'd die of infection a few days later." Terrence shook his head slightly. "I knew these things. I knew it all. That's why after my father took off, I suggested that mother and I leave the village."

"But why? If you had your mother, why didn't you stay? She would've," Terrence shook his head, cutting her off before she could finish her thoughts.

"She would've what? Survived Vvim's birth? She was old, Miss Haruno. Almost sixty. Not many women in these parts live past fifty, much less have a _child_ at ten years past the expected expiration date. This city has to deal with the plague every five years, which knocks out almost five percent of the total population in less than a month. Mother wouldn't have survived the plague. This city is a dead city, we just haven't realized it yet."

Sakura was mortified by the way the conversation was going. She wasn't sure what was more frightening: how often the plague came, or the declaration that the city was dead. "Then why do you stay?" Sakura demanded. "Why do you stay in a city like this? In a city you clearly don't like, and in a city that doesn't like you?"

He closed his eyes. A small smile twitched his lips. Sakura wondered what was going through the boy's head. "We stay now because we have family. Mesa Theroux is always here. She used to stay in the room you're in, but we remodeled the nursery for her. Nana writes to us every week, and he calls us every two months. If he doesn't have time to write a full letter, he sends us a postcard, but that's only happened twice in the past two years."

"But couldn't you move to Konoha?" She figured she was probably at the point where she was grasping straws, but she simply couldn't fathom living in a city like Sunagakure permanently. She hadn't even been there a full day and she already wanted to hightail it back home again.

"Miss Haruno… Why did Nana stay in his city?" Terrence asked softly. "It certainly wasn't because people liked him, was it?" Sakura couldn't answer, because she knew it wasn't because people liked Naruto. Everyone hated the trickster. She supposed they all had their various reasons to hate him, but she couldn't think of a single legitimate one. "You asked why the Kazekage left looking displeased; it is because the others told him to—and I quote—go fuck himself. The others have lost precious family to the kage, as their family was assigned to attempt the assassination of the vessel of Shukaku. Whole families were told to kill the vessel of Shukaku, but none could lay a single blow. Nana fought the vessel of Shukaku and he _survived_. Not only did he survive, but he _won_."

"I know… I was there. Gaara-san took me hostage. I was unconscious for most of the battle, but he never fails to brag about it if the opportunity arises."

Terrence snorted slightly in amusement. "Everyone in this city is afraid of the Kazekage. We are taught to show him respect. Disrespect gets us a lashing from our parents."

"Naruto would never!" Sakura insisted. She couldn't imagine her Naruto doing such a vile thing as was done to him by the prison warden.

"Two years ago he adopted all of us. At first, we didn't know what to think. Then he bought the orphanage from the city. He was very devious. Major transactions made during the Sun Festival are half price. It should've cost him closer to three hundred thousand for everything, but he planned his transactions to take place during the Sun Festival. He completely played the city. He must have spent a good fifteen thousand dollars in hospital expenses for us too. He has money in a bank account that Mesa Theroux and I can access for groceries and repairs. And when Colten was heard cussing the vessel of Shukaku and the threat of Colten losing his tongue came up, Nana was quick to step in. Some of the things I heard him say that day turned even my ears pink. He has a foul mouth when he cares…"

Sakura couldn't help but smile. "Yeah… he does have a foul mouth sometimes. And I can picture him planning like that. I sometimes wonder if Naruto's a shinobi in disguise as a crook, or a crook in disguise as a shinobi. I've seen how sticky his hands can be. He seems like a dunce sometimes, but sometimes he's so good at what he does I wonder where the dunce went. It really confused me once—I actually got mad and beat him up, thinking he was a stranger who had infiltrated our team."

Terrence smiled back at Sakura. "Are you feeling at all tired? It's going on four thirty AM."

"I wish… now I'm just awake. There'll be no sleep for me tonight. You go ahead; I think I'll just relax on one of your many couches, if that's alright."

"The orange pouf there is the most comfortable. We spoil Vvim, so when we bought the furniture for this set-up, we bought hers' special order. It's not easy getting that color on a piece of furniture." He grinned slightly and she smiled back. "Would you like the lights on or should I turn them off?"

"They can be off. And congratulations on your graduation. Make sure you talk to myself, Fuyumi, or Ino some time tomorrow so we can check the burn on your leg. I don't really want it to get infected."

Terrence took her hand gently in his and lifted it to his lips. He placed a delicate kiss on her knuckles, causing her cheeks to become enflamed. His eyes danced merrily as he locked her eyes with his. "Is it safe to assume that would be an invitation to see you again, Miss Haruno?"

Sakura bit back another blush, and forced herself to frown (oh, she really wanted to smile). "Seeing as I will be here for the next six months, I would suppose so. But don't go assuming too much or you'll make an ass out of everybody involved." He chuckled and uttered something in Suni. She cursed not knowing the language. "What did you say?" she had to ask.

His eyes twinkled again. "I said I assume I know why nothing more than a few stories and a picture has inspired Vvim to be just like you."

"What do you mean?" Sakura had to force herself to stay still. Her inner self wanted to move up to Terrence and—and she didn't know what then. She would either shake him until he blabbed all his inner thoughts, or kiss him… The boy was better looking than Sasuke was, especially with his adorable—_lickable, her inner self provided_—freckles, and he was friendlier and more approachable than Sasuke.

"You are beautiful, strong, and—if the stories Nana writes us of you are true—determined and kind. These are always admirable features in a woman." He gave her another smile, and another kiss to her knuckles before he released her and stood straight again. "I hope you get some rest."

Terrence left her there then, winking at her before he shut off the light and slid the doors closed on his exit. She stared at the closed doors for a moment. The living room was barely lit up by a few night lights around the place and the light from the street lamps outside.

Basically the gist of what she could understand from Terrence was that the kids knew disrespect could get them killed, but Naruto showed them sometimes disrespect was necessary—and the kids (well, excluding Vvim who obviously had no discretion at all if the earlier display said anything) had taken the lesson to heart.

The kids hated Gaara because he took their family from them. Sakura wondered about that; she knew Gaara fairly well. Or at least, she liked to think she did. She liked to think she could understand Gaara. He was raised to be nothing more than a weapon—a tool—for the use of the city. The kids were also being raised as weapons, and then Naruto came along.

Naruto was a shinobi from another village. He would never be asked by Sunagakure to assassinate Gaara, and even if he were asked to do so by Konoha, the likelihood of him doing it was slim. Naruto would probably swallow his tongue whole before he killed someone he thought of as a friend, and only the heavens knew how Naruto came to be Gaara's friend and vice versa, but it happened. And Naruto had already beaten Gaara once, so the kids were reassured if it happened once it could happen again.

They had a family that was separated by an entire desert, but Naruto (being that he was Naruto and somehow he could make people either like him or try to kill him with a single action—_how did he do that anyway?_) kept the ties strong through weekly letters and infrequent phone calls. She was going to have to beat Naruto up even more now, because the dope could write to everyone in Suna once a week but he hadn't dropped her a single letter not even _once_ in two and a half years. He didn't even send a postcard. Nothing!

She was sure he had his reasons.

Sakura turned her head to look back at the painting of Naruto and his many counterparts. It was hard to see in the dark, but she could understand so much more from her talk with Terrence than she believed he meant her to understand. She saw the image of the real Naruto holding the orb with the view of an orange tree so _perfect_, so _full of life_ inside it, and she knew why they had Naruto holding that in his hand instead of any number of other ways they could have had Naruto drawn.

It was because Naruto really was just like that. He was life. He held life in his hands as preciously as that picture showed him to do. He valued life above all else. His ' Ninja Way' was a childish hope that he would not have to take life. He had declared on many occasions that he wouldn't be like everyone else. He would find his own way. And there he was, displayed with the fragile orb of life in his hands. He could easily let life slip through his fingers, but his hands were firm.

And he was the most beautiful she'd ever seen him, displayed in that painting. His lips were just slightly tilted in a serene smile; he was happy. He'd probably get mad if she ever called him beautiful to his face. Her eyes fell on the image of the lonely, malnourished boy with orange hair. She let her eyes wander the faces of the darkened painting, though it was harder to see with only the light from a few nightlights hidden behind furniture and the light from the street lamps streaming from the windows.

Then her mind brought up a picture of Naruto. Of the real Naruto, not of each of the eleven different faces of Naruto in the painting. Her only hint that they were all Naruto was that gaudy orange, and the fact that she knew Naruto was Nana. It made sense, didn't it? He could be all those things. He could be the family man. He could be a hunter. He could be dark and spooky like a convict sometimes. He could be quite dysfunctional and he could be completely lost and head down the wrong road even if the paths were obviously labeled "do not go this way or certain death will meet you" and "safety, this way". He could be provocative, and he could be playful. He could be a bookworm and he could be a thief. He could be the tough, no nonsense type if he had to be, and he could seem like he was lonely as hell even when he was among friends.

But above all… he was always Naruto. He was always there for his friends or his enemies or strangers he just met on the road. He was life; he was like an orange. If Sakura were to peel back the outer layer, she would find the many pieces that was him. She could break off one of those pieces, but it didn't matter if it were separate because it was still a part of who he was. She might not like that he was perverted and provocative at times, but that was all a part of who he was. One moment he could be one thing, and the next he could be another… just like each bite of an orange. One might be sweet, and another might be a bit bitter or sour.

She didn't have to like each piece of him to like who he was as a whole. She didn't have to like each piece of him to be completely satisfied with him. Maybe that was why he loved the color orange? As she thought more about it, she couldn't help but think that the color orange symbolized the many different aspects of life. It really was a beautiful color.

_And in the end,_ she thought, _he's the one who has to cope with these pieces of himself._ Her eyes fell on the greasy convict. The image of that man was obviously the killer in Naruto. She had no doubt Naruto had the hardest time coping with that part of himself.

She turned around and looked for the suggested orange pouf chair. It was hard to miss. It was big enough to fit the rear end of an ogre. She walked toward it, but stumbled when something caught her foot unexpectedly. Years of training didn't bother saving her knees from the fall. Kakashi would scold her if he knew she tripped; awareness of one's surroundings was one of his many lessons to learn.

Sakura twisted to find out what had caused her to fall. She'd snagged her foot on the strap to Naruto's hastily discarded travel pack. He was still using the same one he used when they first teamed up at age eleven. He'd been so happy to have the bag, even though it was from a second-hand shop.

Looking at it close up told her he really needed a new bag. His careless actions to take off his bag earlier had caused the flap button to rip off, and the zipper was broken so a bunch of his things had spilled out on the floor. If she had to guess, she would say the zipper had been broken for a while. The bag's straps had broken off many times, but it looked like Naruto had sewn them back on just as many times. Patches covered some places on the bag where simple sewing wouldn't work, though Naruto was so bad at sewing the threads were coming off on some of them.

She could remember him sitting by the fire on missions, sewing the tears in his jacket. He always sang the same annoying song. "I've got a holey jacket, my jacket's full of holes. I'm sewing the holes in my jacket, so I can wear my jacket." If it was his bag that had received the abuse, he'd sing the song about his bag. He was quite obnoxious when he sang that song. Sasuke always shot death glares at Naruto every time he sang the song. Or the rubber ducky song. Sasuke _hated_ the rubber ducky song.

She began picking up Naruto's things and carefully placing it in the bag again. When Naruto woke up, she was going to have to talk him into buying a new travel pack. She was worried just holding the bag would cause it to fall apart. If he really was Nana, he shouldn't have too many money issues.

She put his sewing kit back in his pack—if it could be called a sewing kit. All it consisted of was a little needle and a spool of thread. He took patches out of an old black shirt if he needed them. At least his 'sewing kit' had gotten smaller over the past couple of years. He used to carry around a giant ball of yarn and a yarn needle.

Sakura refolded his expensive hakama and haori. It was full of wrinkles. Hopefully they would press out, because she highly doubted a place like Sunagakure would have a dry cleaners shop, especially since it involved steaming out wrinkles and water wasn't exactly in abundance. But she really liked Naruto's dress clothes. She really wanted to see what he looked like in them. Sasuke looked funny in them (Ino had gotten her a picture of it, and Sakura laughed for hours after seeing it). Naruto, on the other hand, seemed to know how to wear orange.

She carefully put the clothes back in the bag. The next thing she picked up was a small bag. It was just like a handful of other bags that had spilled out from the bag. She counted seven of them on the floor. On a hunch, she looked in the torn travel bag (after checking to make sure she was truly alone in the room, since she knew she was poking in stuff she shouldn't) and found three more of the smaller bags, totaling ten.

She opened one of the small bags and shifted through it. Her hunch had proven correct. These ten bags were home to Naruto's 'others'. The bag she was looking in had an unmarked forehead protector, more than two dozen circular blades carefully protected in a proper leather holster similar to what Sakura kept her shuriken in, an entire set of kunai and the nin-kits to keep them in, and an ID card written in another language.

She really hoped all his identities didn't have an entire new set of weapons, because if he had a full set of weapons for all ten of his identities _plus_ himself, the weight of his bag would be astronomical. She knew the 'Nana' identity was a civilian, but 'Amunet' was a kunoichi, and whoever the serious looking woman with the high-top pony tail was supposed to be was displayed as a kunoichi as well.

She replaced everything back in the small bag and zipped it back up, then put the small bags back in the travel pack. Some of the small bags were nearly empty so she had to assume there wasn't much in it, if anything.

The last items to have fallen out of the travel pack were a pair of orange boxers littered with little green frogs (she should have known) and two books. One looked very old and was bound in worn leather. She recognized that as the "Make-Out Paradise" book he'd been reading the day they kissed under the bridge. Just thinking about that kiss made her insides melt. She didn't have too many other experiences to judge the kiss against, but it was something very special…

She folded up Naruto's boxers (blushing even as she did it) and put them back in the travel pack, then picked up the pervert book. What was it about those sort of books that made people read them? She picked up the second book. It looked newer than the first. She took the books over by one of the windows and opened the old book.

The first thing she noticed was that it wasn't a make-out book. Naruto had lied to her. She read a few lines of it and realized the book was either a fiction story Naruto was writing or else it was the journey log of someone from his family. Judging by how old and brittle the book appeared to be and by the fact that each entry was dated years before Naruto was born, and the fact that the handwriting was much neater than Naruto's scribbles, she was betting it was the latter.

She flipped through a few pages, scanning for anything at all interesting but finding nothing. Finally she skipped to the last entry.

_October 17. If anyone should have found this journey log, please tell Naruto thanks from his father, and that it wasn't his mother's fault. And tell him I'm sorry, but he did the right thing. It's not easy to do the right thing when you can change everything. I'm glad to see he grew up so well. I love you, Naruto. Stay strong._

Sakura stared at the page. She just wanted to see what the date of the last entry was. Why didn't Naruto just tell her the book was his father's journey log? She always assumed he never had parents. That was what everyone always said. Naruto was left on the Third Hokage's doorstep with a blanket wrapped around him and his name written on a piece of paper. Everyone assumed his parents were lost during the Kyuubi attack.

Of course, that made Sakura question how Naruto's birthday was October 7 and everyone knew that, yet the story was that Naruto was born during the Kyuubi attack which didn't happen until ten days after he was born.

What wasn't the fault of Naruto's mother? And what could a ten-day-old baby possibly do that could be considered the 'right thing'? Sakura didn't really think ten-days-old could be considered "grown up well". And what exactly would change if Naruto did the wrong thing?

She closed the old book and opened the new one. She knew she was poking her nose into business that didn't concern her, but it was as if today made Naruto more mysterious than Sasuke had ever been. Everyone knew what happened to Sasuke and why he spent his whole life brooding over this thing or that thing. But there was so little that she actually knew about Naruto that Naruto himself didn't tell her! It was time she started to get answers.

She would go through the old book again and read more of it later, in case it had anything else interesting that could explain the strange questions brought up by the final entry. For now, she opened the new book and looked at the first page. It was also a book of pages, but Naruto's familiar scribbles filled up this book. It was hard to decipher, but she'd read worse things.

_I'm scared. It's dark. I just spent ten minutes puking in a trash can. My whole body stinks of sweat. I'm scared if I close my eyes I'll have another nightmare. They feel so real to me. Jiraiya said nightmares are the unpleasant side effect of being a shinobi they don't advertise to the rest of the world. But this is really bad. I barely even remember what I dreamt, but I know it was awful. _

_My whole body shakes when I wake up from a nightmare, so bad that walking is impossible. Jiraiya left me alone again tonight. He said he was going to get me something to calm my nerves. If he brings me back a bottle of alcohol, I'm going to smash it on his head and stab him with the damn shards. How many nightmares am I going to have before something gives? _

_It comes with the job, Jiraiya tells me, but I've been a shinobi for almost three years, except they didn't start until Sasuke handed me my ass at the Valley of Ends. The first one was in the hospital after Kakashi brought me back. Jiraiya told me it's normal for a shinobi to have nightmares, but it's a sign of insanity to write down the nightmare. __He got real mad when I tried to write down my last nightmare. I thought he was going to hit me, but he didn't. He said I shouldn't try to preserve the memory of these horrible occasions. _

_That's why I'm writing this now while he's gone. I have to write this down because I have to prove to him my nightmares aren't just nightmares. He says they're normal. He said that anyone who can live the life of a shinobi and never have a nightmare is insane. But I've had normal nightmares before. I've lived through the death of Haku so many times—but those are normal. I remember those. I remember every single moment of those nightmares. When I dream of the invasion of ramen noodles trying to take over the world and I have to be the hero and eat it all, that's normal and I remember. _

_These nightmares aren't normal. I remember only bits and pieces. At first, I couldn't remember anything at all, but the more I have these nightmares, the more I am able to remember bits and pieces of them. Last nights' was the worst. There was blood, a lot of blood. I remember the blood and I remember the body. Its in a bathtub. One leg is over the edge of the tub, but the rest of the body is submerged. The water is too red to see who it is in the tub. That's all I can remember of it, but I know there was more. _

_I know there was more and I know it was real. I don't mean real like how dreams can feel real. I mean it felt like I was right there. It felt like I was standing right next to the tub. And now I'm naked, scared shitless of myself, hiding under the bed writing this because when I woke up my arms were covered in blood. _

_Jiraiya says its normal. _

_I don't think so. Normal isn't waking up with blood covered arms. Normal isn't waking up with no logical clue how the blood got there. Normal isn't puking and sobbing on the floor of the shower, trying to figure out what the hell I just did. But what the hell. I've never been normal before._

Sakura felt herself shake slightly in apprehension. This was Naruto's journal. There was a sick feeling in her gut. It sounded to her like he had a mental disorder, perhaps multiple personality disorder, if he was 'falling asleep' and 'waking up' with no idea how things changed in the meantime. Her eyes landed on the picture of all Naruto's identities… and then on the greasy convict looking one.

No. It wasn't possible. Jiraiya was there. Jiraiya would know. And if something was wrong with Naruto, Tsunade would take care of it. Except the childish reassurances weren't doing anything for her. Internally she was growing worried. But why did Jiraiya say it was bad to write down a nightmare? Sakura had a dream journal. By writing it down, she felt it helped her cope with the nightmare, and by writing down her good dreams too, she could tell how many good dreams she had versus bad dreams and realize that it didn't happen as often as she thought. So why would Jiraiya say such a thing?

There was still more written. Sakura turned to the next page. She had to skip several pages because they were the bits and pieces of dreams Naruto could remember. She stopped at one entry when she scanned the word "avoid".

_I've begun to notice when I'm going to have a nightmare. It's been two full weeks and I haven't had one, because I figured out how to avoid them. It leaves me very tired, but it's a lot better than having a nightmare every other day. _

That was definitely good news. If he could avoid the episode, and he was making a conscious effort to avoid them, then he wasn't encouraging them. If he wasn't actually encouraging the episode, then he surely he didn't really want to do whatever it was he was doing…right? But she couldn't bring herself to be fully reassured because so far all the entries had simply been about the nightmares… and there was still plenty of entries left.

She set the book down on her lap and glanced out the window. The sky was gray and she could hear movement upstairs. From her estimations of the layout of the house, Naruto's 'office' was at the front of the house above the living room, and the movement was coming from the general location she'd heard the crash earlier that day when Naruto went to get 'the box' from his mail pile in his office. If she were to guess anything, Naruto was up. If she wanted to make sure she didn't get caught with his stuff, she probably should put the books back.

Sakura shut the book with a frown and crossed the room, replacing it in Naruto's bag quietly. Then she lay on Vvim's special chair and decided to pretend to be asleep as more and more thoughts whirled around her head. Naruto was her best friend. He wasn't psychotic. He was her teammate. He was a good person. But as much as she told herself these things, the more worried she became. Naruto fell asleep and woke up with blood on his hands.

"I'll call Tsunade-sama..." she determined, hugging her knees to her. If anyone knew anything other than Jiraiya, it would be Tsunade. And if Tsunade wasn't made aware of the situation previously, then Tsunade could find out from Jiraiya what was up with Naruto and hopefully the Hokage could put Sakura's worries to rest. "I'll call her later today..."

And then Sakura, exhausted from such a long day, finally slept. She woke a few hours later with an old throw covering her. The first sight she saw was Terrence. He was doing something with the wires on the entertainment center. She was surprised to find Lee was helping. At first she thought Lee might be present only to do the heavy lifting, but as she watched she realized Lee was actually teaching Terrence. Sakura watched them for a few long moments until the need to go to the bathroom became too large to remain unnoticed.

She wasn't going to enjoy this stay in Suna for so many reasons...

* * *

**THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE FEEDBACK GUYS! **Ichihime (Naruto kept in contact through letters and sent them pictures of each self so they knew who to look for if they needed help), supersillee06 (A four-some was mentioned too, you know.), Dark Inu Fan (She's going to shoot her mouth plenty, and it's going to get plenty of people in trouble), Iseriad (looking forward to more reviews), loki09 aka ttre208 (it is _NOT_ the following: Gaara/Naruto, Sasuke/Naruto, Sakura/Fuyumi, Sakura/Ino, Gaara/Sasuke, Gaara/Sasuke/Naruto threesome, Sakura/Kagome, Gaara/Kagome, Naruto/Kagome.), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (They don't all know that Naruto is all of them... They only know he's Nana and himself so far), DarkRavie (I look forward to another review!), Arcander (you should've done your homework...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 49 after I posted chapter 50. 

ANSWER: I'm still unsure about this chapter, so feedback me, please!

_And I knew there was something weird about him, 'cause when I turned around he was pulling a big palm tree right up out of the ground and swatting those Charlies with it, from here to kingdom come ('cause they didn't review)._


	51. The Younger Twin

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

**I put this story on the review list because** I was thinking too much about it and not updating any other stories.  
So the evil story retaliated andwouldn't let me think of anything else...  
...I'm taking it off.

**WARNING: May contain** OOCness, but life is never in character. I'm still trying to figure out why I ever hope my story will go my way.

* * *

Chapter 51: The Younger Twin

_"And she slid her tongue—"_

The impatient child irritably threw the book away from her and hunched down on her decorated bunk, pouting into her orange pillow case. She could only read a book so many times before becoming capable of reciting it from memory. Her problem was that she simply had no new material to go over. She had the time to read all she liked, but that didn't change the fact that her problem was still there.

She had been in the prison over fifteen years. She was still a baby in the cradle when they decided it was 'in the best interests of everyone if she were properly secured and safe'. The logic of the sniveling twits made her snort in dry humor.

Very few people cared or even knew about her existence. The third Hokage and the Elder Council knew, and Kashi-kun knew. The other inmates and the guards knew. However, the Elder Council was the reason she was locked up and hadn't wanted for her to be taught even so much as reading so the chance of them giving her new reading material was less than zero. Seeing as how the third Hokage was dead, those chances had also fallen to nothing. The guards and inmates thought she was a demon child, the chance that she would get something _other_ than a cold shoulder and cruel treatment was slim.

And Kashi-kun hadn't come for a while now so she wasn't expecting too much out of the lazy Jounin, though the lack of company was driving the child insane. If it weren't for the lessons the third Hokage himself had provided to the child, she would've gone mad out of sheer boredom.

She had hoped that befriending the pink-haired girl who shared her cell for a week would give her a new friend who would visit every so often, but when the girl failed to come back, the child had to accept that she was currently alone.

Soon though, she wouldn't be. Or, she _hoped_ not, anyway. She was supposed to be released August first but it was already mid-August and still there was no sign of the departure she was supposed to make from the place. Thinking of that aloneness made her feel lonely. She reached under her pillow and pulled out the worn old picture.

She looked from face to face; her mother smiled warm and demure at the camera through big, brown doe eyes. Her hair was as black as the night and it mushroomed around her head. She was very beautiful, and almost too young for the man beside her. Her mother wore a red-orange comely looking dress and definitely looked like she was ready to be a mother.

Her father was muscular and he had broad shoulders. If her mother was the doe, than her father was the king of the lions. He didn't smile. He was dressed in a dark brown dress shirt and black dress pants. He even had a black tie on, though it was hard to tell because his dress shirt was so darkly colored. His skin stuck out in contrast to the color, a light and healthy tan while her mother's skin was a bit more like caramel colored. Even his beautiful blue eyes didn't smile. His bright blond hair hung in spikes like the mane of a lion and he was undoubtedly a handsome man.

Nestled within the arms of their parents was the child and her older twin brother. He was only older by a few hours—five to be exact, as her mother hadn't known she was pregnant with twins. After the birth of her elder brother the doctors thought her mother was having post-birth complications and no one thought it was possible the birth might not be over yet. The child had actually been dead for a few minutes after she was finally pushed out, but the doctors had been able to revive her.

Her father cradled the older boy, while her mother held her. She had grown to look very much like her mother when she wasn't hiding within a transformation jutsu. When she released the jutsu, she too was slender and delicate and she had the same night-colored hair and doe eyes. But she wasn't as short as her mother; she'd grown tall like her father.

She liked to imagine that her older brother had grown up like a short version of their father: stocky with muscles, spiky blond hair, and dazzling blue eyes. In her imagination he was a handsome man who had hundreds of girls chasing him, but he was too nice to turn them down so she had to be the tough sibling and beat them back with a stick.

It was fun to giggle at the mental image because she already knew her brother wasn't quite what she imagined him to be. For one thing, she was the weak one. He was a ninja; strength was expected of him. He'd grown up outside of confinement whereas she'd known only the prison as her home since she was ten months old.

The only formal tutoring she'd ever received was in academics which the third Hokage had provided her. She'd had informal training from Riba and the other demons as they had been her care-takers for the first four years of her life: she learned their language growing up instead of her own and learned how to create and control chakra.

The Elder Council only found out too late that she'd taken the lessons from Riba like a sponge takes water. They had thought they got her away from them in time; they had thought wrong. But it had been incredibly difficult to be forced away from Riba and the others and speak nothing of the language she should have known all along. For several years, she was considered dumb because she couldn't speak the language. It was hard to know one language and have to start completely from scratch to learn another.

Her brother had never been caged like her. He had been _free_.

She smiled at the ragged old picture of a family torn apart by tragedy, but it wasn't a happy smile. Usually she could wear a happy smile. It wasn't difficult to pretend she was an eight year old like her transformation jutsu portrayed her as. She'd made that pink haired girl think she was one. But she used the jutsu to encourage the idea that she was a demon; she was _much_ safer if people thought she was a demon…

But that meant she couldn't tell anyone about her brother. Well… not until she _left_ this place. Fifteen years—she wasn't supposed to have to stay even a day longer than that. Her sentence was up already, never mind the fact that she didn't do anything wrong to deserve to go to jail.

Her normally warm brown eyes narrowed hatefully at the woman in the photo. It was her mother's fault. Everything was her mother's fault. If her mother weren't a monster in disguise, then none of the things she had gone through would have happened.

Because of that woman, she had to pretend she was a demon. She had to call her father by his name, and she couldn't acknowledge her brother's existence or else people would figure out she was actually _human_ and it was hard enough living in the prison as it was!

The child could hear footsteps coming closer and even though she figured it to be a regular guard who would merely walk past, she still hid the picture inside her pillowcase quick as can be and burrowed under her orange blanket, feigning sleep. She was pretty lucky, considering she was in the prison. Kashi-kun gave her gifts for every birthday since birth practically. At first it was simple things like picture books—she loved to look at the pictures and make up a story to go along with it—and a bed set and washing utensils.

As she got older and finally learned her own language instead of the language Riba and the others spoke Kashi-kun got her stacks of books of great variety. Her favorite books were those on gardening; when he found out (as he somehow always did) she liked gardening, he would send packets of seeds and anything else he could get away with giving to an inmate. She supposed he'd figured she might start a potted-plant garden in her cell, but she had a better idea.

She threatened the warden to get a small area of the outer yard for planting things. He thought she was a demon and was unaware that she had minimal chakra reserves although he was aware that she was physically weak. However, when given the option between calling her bluff (she said she would bring the prison walls down around his ears) with the potential that she might not really be bluffing and giving her a bit of earth, the warden let her have her garden.

If only he knew it took all her chakra just to maintain the disguise as an eight-year-old, then maybe he would've turned down her 'request'. But who knows? Maybe she would have cried to Riba if the warden did that and Riba and the others would have sought blood for her tears. It was something Riba and the others _would_ do too. After all, they weren't short chakra or strength; if they wanted to, they could easily escape prison by casually strolling out the front gates (leaving behind mayhem and destruction with no second glances).

They stayed only because they couldn't go back to their world without Kyuubi so they had to wait for him to be freed. Besides… the prison served three meals a day and provided shelter and beds and blankets and all sorts of little things, which was more than they got back in their world. Back in their world, they were lucky to eat once every few days and the rest was simply the guilty indulgence of royalty—which was no where near what position Riba and the others held.

Riba said back in his world, he'd been nothing more than a thief picking pockets and trying to survive on the streets. He'd made his home inside a wide crack in the castle wall until one day he picked the wrong pocket—the pocket of the famed King's Fool, Kyuubi. Riba never finished the tale, so she didn't know how Riba came to be Kyuubi's very close friend but she hoped to someday hear it from Kyuubi himself.

She heard the sound of a baton clacking against the bars of her cell. She kept pretending to be sleeping on the top bunk and the guard banged the baton again. The guard called gruffly, "Hey, demon brat! Get up. You can stay in your sleep wear if you want to since you'll just be undressing again for the medic."

She allowed herself to groan internally, but externally she practically bounced down off the bunk. She never liked the guards. She could scare the other inmates into leaving her alone, but the guards weren't afraid of her as much. The guards did nasty things to her even though they thought she was a demon. All they cared was that she was still young, demon or not.

She pulled on the comfy pumpkin orange hooded sweatshirt Kakashi had sent her over her night gown; he'd stolen it from her brother, so in her eight-year-old body, it didn't fit very well. The hem went down to her kneecaps, and her arms swam in the sleeves just like her body did. But it was still very warm, and she _loved_ her brother's choice of color; it was her favorite. She wondered if he knew it was gone…

Once the sweatshirt was on, she stuck her hands through the tray opening of the bars and the guard put on the customary cuffs. Only with those on did he open the cell door and lead the way to the medic's office. She wondered why she needed an exam; she just had one. It was too soon for another.

Barely an hour later, she found herself as though within a dream, staring down at her own release papers. She'd had a customary pre-discharge basic medical examination and had a post-discharge full medical examination scheduled to take place thirty days from her release, which she was required to go to, but it would be at the hospital. She could barely believe her luck.

She listened to the warden drone on about the terms of her release; because she was a 'demon', she would be shadowed at all times by four ANBU—two would watch her during the day and two would watch her at night. The warden made sure she was fully aware that he had posed his own objections to her release, but his objections had obviously been disregarded.

He stated she would stay with a Jounin chosen by the current Hokage to help her acclimate to the world outside prison. She didn't really think she'd need the help, because how difficult could it be? Still, she wasn't going to question the terms and before she knew it she was being introduced to a 'Gai Maito'.

"But you can call me Gai!" the cheery man said, giving her a thumbs-up. He was definitely a weird one; his teeth even sparkled. She hoped everyone on the outside didn't wear clothes like him… but she didn't say anything about that.

"I am Rin Uzumaki." He and the warden both blinked in evident surprise. She smiled at the warden. "You seem stunned. Why?"

Neither of them voiced their thoughts, but she could make a guess. They were surprised she might be related to the host of Kyuubi, but that would make her human. She'd never mentioned her surname before. She'd always went by the name Rin and nothing more. It wasn't hard to hide her last name. She didn't even know it most of her life.

She was finally out of the prison by nine AM, dressed in an orange kimono one of the guards had brought after packing her things and her brother's shirt. Her things had been loaded onto a buggy outside the castle prison. Her first task was to immediately search her things to find her pillow while Gai jabbered on about how honored he was to have the task of rehabilitating her to the real world.

From the sound of things, Gai was going to be a nice person. He never called her demon even once. Instead, he immediately took to calling her 'Rin-chan'. She got her picture out of her pillow and then Gai (oddly enough) hitched himself to the small wagon filled with her personal items. Most of the wagon was weighed by her book collection. If there was one thing she would miss about the prison, she was sure it would be her garden.

"Gai," she said after they'd crossed the bridge and started down the road toward the city. Gai paused in his narrative of his every day activities to look down at her with a sparkly smile.

"Yes, Rin-chan?"

"Do you have a family? Brothers, sisters, a wife, and children?"

Gai immediately gushed about his youthful family and how he would be delighted to introduce her to them. His father was CEO of a construction company, and his baby sister helped out at the construction company wherever she was needed. His wife was the most wonderful thing to ever happen to him, and he had a five year old son and a newborn baby boy. He took in an orphan years ago but really, "Lee-kun's not any different," Gai stated firmly, "than my sons. Lee-kun is as much as I would hope for in a son! He is youthful, energetic, and I think he would like you, Rin-chan!"

She found quickly that Lee-kun was on a mission to a foreign country and wouldn't be back for half a year at least, so, "I hope it will not be too inconvenient for you, but you'll have to stay in Lee-kun's room. I hope you are not too upset to be discharged late. I assume blame for that; I was supposed to come sooner, but my wife went into labor, and it slipped my mind."

Rin couldn't help but smile. She wasn't really one to hold a grudge, even if she mostly came to dislike humans for their constant treatment of not just those who were different but also each other. She was a bit bitter that the Hokage didn't think to have someone else see her through the release process, but it was nice to know that Gai would assume responsibility for her late release and admit it to her face. It was also nice to know he had a valid excuse, unlike Kashi-kun when he failed to visit her on time and then showed up randomly and claimed a black cat was sitting on the road to the prison.

"What did you name the child?"

"Arthura," he smiled. "Lee-kun picked it. It is a very sprightly sounding name, and the name of a champion, I think!"

"That's a really nice name. Arthlezenian for _He Who Sees the Great Mothers_."

"Arfelite?"

"Arthlezenian, the language spoke by a race of people called Arthlezenithites… Its really a beautiful language; its what I learned to speak growing up before I knew common."

Gai blinked and then his lips flapped for a moment uselessly. "Lee-kun said he's one of those… an Arfelizentite…"

"Arthlezenithite," Rin corrected Gai. "For the most part, Arthlezenithites aren't in our world, but _usually_ humans will call Arthlezenithites 'demons'." Gai opened his mouth to argue—probably to say Lee wasn't a demon. "Its true! A very long time ago, before the creation of humans, there was a race of people called Arthlezenithites—the Children of the Four Goddesses. They were all gifted by the Goddesses to be born with vast stores of knowledge. As years went by the Arthlezenithites waged wars on each other with their weapons of mass destruction, laying waste to hundreds and thousands of their own kind before taking their winged cities to live among the stars."

"Live among the stars?" Gai asked.

"Yes, and the Goddesses hated that their children would so easily turn their backs on their mothers so they cursed them. 'If you will act like an animal, then you must be an animal!' So now the Arthlezenithites are called demons, and most of them even think of themselves as that." Rin had heard about that countless times from Riba.

"But if Lee is a demon, doesn't that mean he has infiltrated my family to do us harm?" Rin winced as she realized it might have been a mistake to tell Gai anything.

"No, Sir, not necessarily. When the Arthlezenithites were cursed by the Goddesses, their whole race of people was cursed to be animals; the more animalistic they behaved, the more animalistic their appearance became. Some weren't changed too much because they didn't do anything to provoke the curse; they had tails or dog ears but some changed completely."

Gai was quiet for several long minutes and then he smiled. "Lee-kun looks very human, so he is most certainly a good boy." He sounded very reassured and Rin decided not to tell Gai that only the very first Arthlezenithites to take to the sky were cursed, and that it had been thousands of years since all that happened. Riba had said there were many very human looking people in his world.

A few more minutes passed and Rin paid great interest to the world outside the prison. She was very interested by the things she saw: buildings, people, and even graffiti on a wall was interesting. The further she went into the city, the more she wanted to see and the more she felt like shedding the transformation jutsu that kept her looking like an eight year old. However, the only clothes she had to wear that would fit her outside of the transformation jutsu was her brother's orange sweatshirt (and she was wearing it over the orange flower patterned kimono) and a pair of pajama shorts.

She really wanted to leave behind Prison-Rin, even though at first she had assumed she would keep up the demon-guise.

Gai asked, "Lee said Arthlezenithites were 'created not born'… do you know what he meant?"

Rin nodded. "Mm, before they were cursed, the Arthlezenithite people created their young using their technology, first using machinery to create an artificial womb for a fertilized egg. After the child is developed enough to be removed from the artificial womb, they would surgically install the first piece of machinery to allow the child to connect their _Ghost_ to the technology of their world."

"What do you mean, their ghost?"

"It's difficult to explain because translating Arthlezenian into common is so imprecise… a lot of the words they use have no equivalent that I've come across in any language—and I know fourteen languages now, since I had little better to do with my time in prison than learn. But the best example I can think of is if you were to put your spirit into the walls and the ground and see the essence of the world and understand it simultaneously. Once the Arthlezenithites organic bodies stopped growing, they would undergo surgery that gave them _Chisak_. With _Chisak_, they no longer needed wires to connect their _Ghost_ to the world, because they were part of it."

Rin could remember Riba telling her about that process. It was so hard to imagine, but even Riba only had stories to tell because after they were cursed, the Four Goddesses took away their gift of knowledge and they could no longer use their technology to its proper potential. Riba _did_ say there was supposed to be one Arthlezenithite who still remembered how to use everything, but he said no one knew where he was since he had forsaken his people and remained behind when they took to the skies with their winged cities.

The legends told that "Arzyle" had been gifted to remain with the knowledge given him by his mothers, but when the Goddesses made humans, Arzyle was cursed to keep watch over them while the rest of his brothers and sisters who turned away from the Goddesses were cursed to be servants to certain worthy humans who would have the power to call forth the "_Haoou ju auooji"_ or roughly translated, demon, from their world. The rough translation was truly just that: rough. Rin hardly claimed to be an expert on any language she knew, but she thought a better translation would be "to summon a creature", not "demon", which seemed to her that "Haoou ju auooji" was more of a phrase than it was a term.

They finally stopped in front of a quaint little house in a rather nice neighborhood and Rin smiled. Waiting on the front steps was a petite woman shorter than Rin would be in her normal form, but not by much. She had a cute little bundle of a newborn babe in her arms and wore a white apron over a yellow dress. A little boy who could be no older than five and looked like a mini-Gai gave them a thumbs-up and a sparkly toothy grin.

"Daddy!" the boy cheered. "I did just like you said and dutifully took care of mommy and Arthur!"

Gai looked very pleased and stopped the cart in front of the front door. "Good job, Con!" he chirped. "With every task completed, one can feel the burn in brain and body for the youth of nature cannot be defeated."

Rin puzzled momentarily over that statement and then decided she would have to do some more studying of the common language because it didn't make a word of sense to her. Gai went and kissed his wife on the cheek and his wide-browed newborn on the forehead. The child was wrapped in a stout blue blanket.

"Rin-chan, this youthful woman is my wife, Min Maito! And this sprightly young lad is my son Con! And this energetic bundle is my son Arthura!" Gai introduced Rin to his family. Rin bowed to them respectfully. "Everyone, this is Rin Uzumaki!"

"Uwaaaa!" Con whooped and grabbed Rin's hand, shaking it boisterously. "It is a great honor to meet such a fine youth as yourself! I am sure when you see my great ninja skills you will be awed and amazed at me and will agree to be my wife!"

Rin giggled at him. "But you are only five. Gai said so. You're too young for me."

He puffed up his chest. "You can't be too much older than me!"

"I'll be sixteen in October," she told him, laughing again as his cheeks pinked.

"But… you're so little!" he pouted. "I'll never get a wife. Daddy was _four_ when he asked mommy to marry him! I'm already behind!" he grumbled for a moment and then perked up. "So, Rin-chan, do you want to marry me?"

Rin burst into more helpless giggles as Gai began to lecture his son, saying that it wasn't proper for Con to ask a lady older than him to marry. Gai said it was only proper for a man to ask a younger lady to marry. Min—after suppressing giggles—showed Rin into the house. Min gave Rin the tour of the house, saying not to worry about her things. Gai and Con would bring them in and put them in Lee's room for now.

The house had two floors. The kitchen-slash-dining room, living room, Lee's bedroom, and a full bathroom were all on the first floor. The second floor had the master bedroom which was where Arthura's crib was set up, Gai's office (which Rin quickly found out Gai had transformed his office into a weight room), Con's room, and a half-bathroom.

The house really was nice and cozy. She already liked it; it was a ton more welcoming than the very thought of the prison cell she'd lived in. Rin smiled at Min gratefully. "You have a very nice home, Miss Maito." Afterward, she thought, _Would it be Mrs. or Miss?_ Even after years, her primary language was still Arthlezenian since Orooon (one of the demons in prison) was a school teacher in his world and since she still had the opportunity to see the demons every day through the fence in the yard, Orooon gave her lessons daily on various subjects.

"Call me Min, dear," she said warmly. "And don't feel you need to keep the place so perfectly clean either. My son Lee is a cleaning machine sometimes. Before he left last week, he spent the whole weekend scouring the house." She stopped in front of the door with a wooden plaque reading "Lee" tacked to it and giggled. "If he were half so meticulous about his room, I would think someone switched him with a robot!"

Thinking about her talk with Gai and how this Lee person had apparently called himself an Arthlezenithite, Rin also smiled but for another reason entirely. "You never know," Rin chirped.

Min opened the door and showed Rin inside. The room really wasn't that bad. It was still very clean, but it wasn't quite as sparkling as the rest of the house. A basket of half-folded laundry was in front of the closet and the hamper in the corner of the room was overflowing with tee-shirts and jeans and socks.

The desk was littered with writing utensils that hadn't quite reached the pen cup next to the lamp, and the waste basket was overflowing with crumpled papers. However, despite those small messes, the blankets on the bed were made up neatly and the clothes hanging in the open closet hung in perfect uniformity. Even though there was a dresser drawer half open giving the immediate impression that the person closing it had not truly cared if it was left open, all the clothes inside the drawer were perfectly folded with not a tag out of line.

To Rin, these small things and Min's silly comment about 'cleaning machines' and 'robots' made Rin think the small messes were purposeful to divert attention away from Lee's computer-like perfectionism. Min might not notice the subtle contradictions, but Rin saw them and took note of them.

"Well, this is where you'll be staying until you can get your feet under you or until Lee returns from his mission. If Lee does return from his mission before you feel ready to leave, I don't want you to feel pressured." Min smiled down at her, "If that happens, we'll simply move Con into here, and you into Con's room, as this is the bigger room more suited to hold more people."

"Thank you for your kindness and generosity, Min," Rin said, bowing gratefully. "May I ask a small favor?"

"Of course."

"May I borrow clothes from you?"

"You're a bit small for my clothes," Min began.

"Only because I'm in a transformation jutsu," Rin assured her. "I don't normally look this way." Min immediately nodded and told Rin to follow her upstairs. Min set Arthura in the crib where the silent boy slept, and they sifted through Min's clothes for something Rin could wear.

Min finally suggested a soft violet colored blouse and a long skirt of a slightly darker purple. Since Rin had never owned shoes in her life, Min borrowed her a pair of tan flip-flops. After dropping the jutsu and changing into the outfit, Min asked, "Do you have undergarments? Bras, breast bands, undershirts and leggings? And what about shaving? Has anyone told you women shave?"

"I've never had anyone other than Kashi-kun who can get me things, and he was embarrassed enough to have to explain monthlies to me. With him, it's like pulling teeth," Rin admitted, "to get any information at all on anything. He didn't want to know more than he had to."

Min smiled at her, "Well, back in the bathroom then," she said, "I'll answer any question you have."

"What about Arthura?" Rin asked. "Don't you have to take care of him?"

"He's sleeping, dear. He'll be alright and I can hear him if he wakes up."

xXx

By the time lunch rolled around, Rin's head was filled with information Kakashi had either never known or just didn't tell her. Some of it seemed like things he may have known, and other bits of information like how to use a tampon seemed like the sort of thing Kakashi wouldn't have been very likely to know. Rin knew about how to use pads and that they were uncomfortable and bulky, but her weak transformation jutsu couldn't get rid of her monthlies.

Aside from talk about monthlies, undergarments and the importance of wearing them properly, and shaving, Min talked about boys and relationships and practically dove head first into the deep end to talk about sex and protection. Min went on to tell Rin that boys weren't bad and neither was sex, but Min explained that Rin had to be careful with both.

That much, Rin knew. She'd read far too many romance novels _not_ to know. Her favorite book, Make-Out Violence, was a two-story novel about abusive relationships. The first story was about a man abusing his girlfriend, and the second story was about a woman abusing her boyfriend—same situation, reversed roles.

She'd also taken her first bath in her new home, and on Min's insistence, practiced shaving for the first time. Her armpits and legs felt like she'd scraped the skin right off. Min assured her that practice would be the difference between cutting herself while shaving and not. Rin assured Min she wouldn't be shaving again.

After that, Min made lunch for Rin, Con, and herself—Gai left after unloading Rin's things—and chattered at Rin about how wonderful it was that Rin was out of prison. Rin told Min she wasn't totally free yet. "I'm out on parole until I'm eighteen and have to check in with my parole officer once a week, and I have four ANBU watching me daily for an as-yet indefinite length of time."

"That's still better than being locked away, isn't it?" Min asked her. Rin wondered for a moment what Min and Gai had been told before they took Rin in. She was sure Gai was told Rin was a 'demon brat' but so far they had not shown even a single ounce of unease around her. That made her curious about the Maitos.

"I suppose so," Rin began as she ate the sandwiches Min was providing her.

"Now, don't you worry about a thing!" Min told her. "Eat up, because you and I will need to go to the store and get you some undergarments and outfits. Winter is coming up too, so we'll need to prepare you for that. You'll need boots, shoes, undergarments, skirts, shorts, pants, blouses, dresses, sweaters and sweatshirts, tee-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, tank tops, brushes, make up, hair pieces, a proper hair cut… and I want all this done before dinner tonight so we're going to have to get a move on right after lunch."

xXx

Gaara frowned down at the map and the tentative trajectory drawn on its face. The path followed a distinct pattern. Southeast to a somewhat large village called Caine in Rice Country. Northeast to a large village in Rice Country called Jen. Southeast. Northeast. Southeast. Northeast. All the while, the villages the path adjusted at had been destroyed completely.

"She never attacks small places. No village she's destroyed has had less than a populace of ten thousand. But it looks like she gets into the place and attacks while everyone is sleeping. There is very minimal signs of struggle." Kisame grumbled as he explained his recent findings to the young Akatsuki leader Itachi. Itachi was posing as a Jounin named Kakashi, but for the time being he had let down the disguise and looked like himself.

"You are sure she was the cause of these villages' downfall?" Itachi asked as he too looked over the markings on the map. He began to measure the distance between each city, probably hoping there would be some more similarity to the pattern other than what the direction would next be.

"I am," Kisame promised. "She left behind a mass of Level Six. In some of the places, she even left Breeders." He shuddered in disgust; Gaara's brow furrowed. Something that could disgust someone like Kisame was probably not something Gaara wanted to know about.

Still, he asked, "Breeders?"

Deidara explained, "They're a nasty type of creature that lays eggs inside the chest cavity of humans. It only takes a few days for the spawn to mature and when it does, it bursts out of the chest cavity, killing the human it lived in and then immediately seeking out to lay eggs."  
Gaara winced in disgust and immediately imagined it happening to him. "Have all these Breeders been found and disposed of?" he asked. Itachi looked up at Kisame, seeking an answer silently.

Sasori said hesitantly, "Generally by the time we got to the village, it was empty, aun…"

Kisame added, "We think we arrived barely days behind her a few times. Leaving behind Breeders and Level Sixes at a few locations kept us from catching up."

Itachi repeated, "The Breeders; did you contain them, or are we to be faced with mass human extinction on top of the rest of our petty human issues like war and poverty?"

"We took care of the Level Sixes," Deidara said before gulping nervously.

Kabuto pointed out, "Level Sixes are easily contained; they are only as strong as the human sacrifice."

Kisame sighed. "We can't be too certain about the Breeders."

Itachi growled and said, "If you don't recall, let me remind you. Between Breeders and Level Sixes, _Breeders are priority!_" Itachi's expression was deadly. It was easy to see why the young Sharingan-user commanded respect from others; he was frightening even without his bloodlimit activated. Gaara had always respected Itachi since the very first day he'd seen the ex-leaf-nin. He hoped never to be on the receiving end of Itachi's anger.

"Sorry, boss," was chorused feebly from the mouths of Deidara, Kisame, and Sasori.

Gaara watched the frustrated young leader of Akatsuki as he turned back to the map and began once more on his calculations. After a few moments passed and Itachi began penciling potential future trajectory lines on the map, Gaara asked softly, "These Level Sixes… what are they?"

He felt it was a valid question, as he was going to be offering his military services to Akatsuki to bring Kikyou off her path of destruction. That was one of the reasons why Kagome was not present at the meeting: they were talking about Kikyou, and Kagome still believed her mad sister might be saved from the madness. Kagome wasn't convinced that there was nothing human left to her sister, and so the subject really upset her when brought up.

Kabuto pushed his glasses up further on his nose and frowned before beginning to explain. "There are ten levels of Summoning."

"Only if you count contract summons," Kisame added. "But contract summoning is slightly different than Koumajutsu, since it doesn't require the ability to see the rip-threads."

Kabuto continued, "Contract summoning is considered Zero Level Summoning. Then there is Levels One through Nine of _Koumajutsu_, and these can be split up three ways: Basic, Forbidden, and CUR, or Combination-User Restricted."

"Any Summoner can use Levels One, Two, and Three," Kisame said. "Those are the three Basic levels."

"And you are all Level Four Summons now?" Gaara asked, though he already knew the answer. Itachi had been changed for several years, and Deidara, Sasori, and Kabuto were changed by Kikyou the very day she lost her mind. Kisame chose to perform Level Four Summoning on himself nearly ten years ago to stop a mortal wound from killing him.

"Yes," Itachi said almost carelessly as he concentrated on the map.

Kabuto said, "Levels Four through Six are Forbidden because they require a human sacrifice to perform, although the techniques themselves are still Basic. And Levels Seven through Nine can only be performed by a Combination Summoner, though such a Summoner is even more rare than ordinary Summoner. Seven through Nine could be considered the advanced techniques."

"But Kagome is a Combination Summoner," Gaara didn't ask that; he knew it. Both Kagome and Kikyou were the very rare Combination Summoners. Kikyou's Level Three Summon Creatures were the Shikigami Twins while Kagome's were the Dog Princes. Gaara didn't pretend to be an expert on the Yobidasu or on Summoning, but he did know that being a Combination Summoner, if the power was harnessed, would make Kagome far stronger than Gaara could ever be.

And he knew Kikyou would not be easily defeated.

Itachi changed the subject swiftly. "Judging by the pattern Kikyou's trail has taken her, I believe any of the following locations have the potential to be Kikyou's next target." He began using his pencil to circle points on the map. "The cities of Credo, Imstan, Brosa, and Carin Mount are potential hits, and the Seduction-Infiltration Mastery School—though it is less likely as the school has fewer than ten thousand—is also a potential hit. How old is your information?"

Kisame said, "A few months. We lost her trail in May near Brosa in North Sands, though none of the nearby cities had been hit. From there we widened our search, but still found nothing of her."

"Alright. Kisame, head to DeNDotDn and ask around up there for her. Deidara, you head to Golgawood. Talk to the _Scrye_ and see if She will listen to the winds. Do not pressure Her; if she says no, return here, and under no circumstances are you to use fire techniques… better yet, Sasori, you head to Golgawood, and Deidara, you go to Bunjaba Ro and look for any hint of rumors in the area. While you're near Bunjaba Ro, check the S-If Mastery School."

"Yes, Itachi-sama," the three chorused.

Itachi added seriously, "No ripping people into pieces. No blowing things up or setting them on fire. No making people into puppets. Understood?"

They nodded unhappily and began to disperse right when a knock came at the door. Gaara's secretary poked her head into the room nervously, "A young child is here to see you, Kazekage-sama. She said she brought you lunch. Shall I send her away?"

Gaara shook his head. "Send her in," he said and then glanced at his clock. She was half an hour early, but so much the better for him. He had been anticipating her arrival all day long. It was admittedly an exciting thing not knowing what insolence would pop out of her mouth next.

Itachi rolled up the paperwork and slipped into the disguise of a Jounin Gaara still didn't really know. "After you get some rest," Itachi started, "we'll discuss plans to retrieve Lady Kagome's belongings."

Gaara nodded and with Itachi and Kabuto's departure, followed by the young blond girl's entrance, it felt as though the world expanded again. The rooms walls weren't so close any more and it felt brighter in the room than daylight provided for. He watched the small girl as she carefully tiptoed into the room, trying not to smile as she concentrated with all her might on not spilling or dropping the covered soup bowl.

She stopped in the center of the room and looked around. When she saw him she gave him a blinding toothy smile. Looking at it, he could immediately tell she was happy. He hadn't been so happy as a child; he wished he could have been but that was the past.

"I made you lunch all by myself!" she said, her voice filled with pride. "Well, Mesa Theroux helped me a lot, but I did it!" Gaara couldn't help but smile back at her.

_Cute kid,_ Shukaku whispered.

The little blond girl walked up to him and held her offering up to him happily. He didn't want her to feel bad so he accepted it and set the dish on his desk, though he doubted he'd eat it. She might be an innocent child, but he'd had a few too many assassination attempts on his life to allow him to be comfortable accepting unknown substances.

To keep her from feeling bad (though he didn't quite get why her feelings were an issue) he said, "Thank you, Reiss-san."

She made a face at that. "I'm Vvim, not Reiss-san."

"Alright, then thank you, Vvim." He amended.

"You're welcome! Who was fishy face and those other guys who left here?"

He laughed internally at the girl's name for Kisame, but rather than delve on that, he changed the subject by opening the left drawer on his desk. It had taken a great amount of effort to create a special glass sheath for the glass kunai in the late evening hours the night before, but he had managed it just the same. Using Shukaku's power over sand and a few droplets of coloring, he crafted a sheath as lightweight and thin as cloth, but one that was more durable than stone.

It had taken him dozens of failed attempts to create something that could be glass yet not carry the same weight, and it was even harder to create glass that could be nearly weightless but at the same time have it strong enough not to break on powerful impact. Even when he'd practically exhausted his personal chakra reserves and had to tap Shukaku's nearly limitless chakra coils, he still hadn't managed to do all that.

He'd gone to the limits, reliant on his chakra control to be nothing short of perfect so he could complete his self-set task. He had no idea why he had been trying so hard. He'd already admitted to himself that it was stupid—absolutely _ridiculous_—to try to please anyone. Long ago he had learned the hard way that kindness and trust would only bring betrayal, and making people happy was a useless act.

Still, he had endured. It wasn't like he was missing out on sleep anyway because he rarely ever got to sleep. Shukaku had even given him many tips and pointers to help him perfect the perfect glass sheath for the glass kunai. Around dawn was when he'd finally managed to make a glass sheath that was as strong as the kunai it was to contain. But even still, the sheath wasn't perfect yet; Gaara wanted it to be "awesome" as Vvim had called the kunai.

So he had to use dye; he'd chosen bright orange. It wasn't his first time using dye on the little sculptures he made in his boredom, so he'd easily gotten the sheath done in a few minutes once he knew just what he was doing. Still it hadn't seemed completed… something had been missing.

That was when he decided to add another dye: black. The finished result—only determined to be truly perfect after attempting to smash the sheath to bits and not managing to even so much as flaw his work—was the kind of beauty Gaara loved to stand back and admire. Glass art would probably have been a profession of interest for Gaara if only his life were a little different. If only he didn't have Shukaku… except if he didn't have Shukaku, he couldn't do half the things he did now.

The sheath was mostly the orange glass, but in the center like an emblem he had swirled the black dye to create an opaque colored spiral just like that which Naruto wore on his jacket. He had made a soft grip on the handle of the kunai using only the finest quality of leather, and instead of a latch to keep the kunai in the sheath, he had experimented with his chakra to see if he could create a similar effect to magnetism.

It worked with Shukaku's helpful hints, and the dagger wouldn't be able to fall out of the sheath by accident with that mostly useless technique.

The downfall to the glass weapon was that it would inevitably reflect light, but then again so would metal. At least the weapon was perfected, and he'd made the weapon no heavier than an ordinary kunai, but it was certainly going to be stronger. And glass could always be coated with paint or hidden by leather.

It was absolutely astounding what Gaara could do with Shukaku's ability to control sand. After over a decade of destroying things with the ability, he found it was a bigger and more enjoyable challenge to create with it.

He looked down at the little girl. She had clamored up onto his desk chair and made herself comfortable on it. Her feet barely reached the edge of the seat. She was a tiny little thing. It was incredible that she was so brave in the face of danger… that she could look him in the face and call him names such as "snickerdoodlepantshead". Briefly he wondered what the name was supposed to mean, but then he recalled she simply made it up on the spot.

"—and Terry told Nana he has to start going through all the papers in his office so Nana tried to run away and hide, but Terry caught up and now Terry and Nana are in Nana's office. Carin and Jaq are outside playing Sand Stones. They walked me here, but I don't think they like you. But Frankie likes you a little. She's outside with my other two sisters too, but she said you took away her parents and that was the best thing ever happened to her. I sort of wish I got to meet my mama, but she died giving birth to me and Terry says daddy was an idiot so I'm not missing out on anything not having met him, Terry says."

Vvim kept jabbering away about this thing or that. He'd had no idea anyone could possibly talk so much without taking a breath, but she never missed a beat—until she saw the glass item in his hand. Her eyes went wide and her jaw clenched as she threw her lips out in a pout.

He could see she was fighting the urge to reach out and try to take it. He smirked. "Are you ready to earn this?" he asked her, watching her for a reaction.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Uh huh!"

"Good," he said. "Can you read?" She shook her head. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised. She was only two. "Can you speak Suni?" She shook her head again. That time he really wasn't surprised. Even in Suna, their native language was dying out as fast as the plague killed people. There were a few restaurants and weapons-dealers that were trying to revive the language but Suna was dependant on merchants and the ability to speak common tongue, so their main language had become common.

"I can't speak it yet, but I know a few words!" Vvim boasted proudly. "hn'Jabin, kjx dotsa shtavu. Syr dotsa mA'j." she stumbled a bit on the pronunciation but he did understand what she was attempting to say. It literally translated as 'Wonderful thoughts filled, small. You are loved.' However, a better way to translate it was, 'Many sweet dreams, little one. I love you.'

Gaara did not admire the job of translators. His uncle used to say the same thing to Gaara at night when he tucked Gaara in for his three-hours of sleep. "Alright," Gaara told the girl. He reached out and set the kunai on the flat base of his desk lamp where she could see it and its sheath. The sheath had a belt loop, but he hadn't yet gotten a belt for it. He was thinking leather, but in that case she would just grow out of it and have to get a new one. Then he'd thought about a silk sash—she could just tie it off at her size…

"I can't read or write, but I can run!" Vvim said as she suddenly got nervous. Did she think being unable to read or write would stop him from giving her small tasks to fulfill? "I can give mail to the mail service, and I can get you candy from the candy store!"

He glanced at the child in confusion. "Why would I want candy?"

"Because your candy bowl is empty!" she said seriously, pointing to the glass jar his medicine was supposed to be kept in. Temari had gone to see if Kagome could make a quick dose of it so he could sleep that afternoon. All that was left was little powdery remains.

"Oh," Gaara said; of course the child would be thinking of candy… "That jar is not for candy."

"It should be," Vvim said seriously. "The bank has a candy jar, you know. And so does the post office. I go all the time with Mesa Theroux and they always give me a piece of candy."

He thought about that for a moment and found Shukaku was laughing at him for pondering the words of a child so seriously. "Alright," he said, "then I will give you money to buy a candy jar and candy. You will buy a jar only large enough for you to carry, and only enough candy to fill it." He took a few monetary notes from his wallet (he'd gotten used to carrying cash around since Kagome came to town) and handed them to the girl with his specific instructions. "Now, tell me what you're going to do?"

She looked at the money in her hands. It was probably the most she'd ever seen in person… "Um, I'm going to… er, I don't know? Can you say that again?"

"This note is thirteen, and this note is twelve. Use these two notes at a glass shop to purchase a candy jar. This note is worth five," he pointed to the five, "use it at the candy store."

"Okay." She stuffed the notes in the pocket of her orange vest and zipped the pocket shut. "Thirteen and twelve notes at candy store and five note at the glass shop." She repeated.

"No, the other way around," Gaara told her. "Thirteen and twelve notes at the _glass shop_ and the five note at the _candy store_."

"Thirteen and twelve notes at the _glass shop_ and the five note at the _candy store_." She said, her voice a near perfect mimicry of his own. For a second, he was startled into silence at his replicated voice. She was pretty good for a two-year-old. He recalled she'd done that at graduation too, mimicking Kankuro's voice.

He hoped she didn't get twenty five notes worth of candy…

She climbed off the chair and as the city clocks toned the thirteenth hour of the day (the time she was supposed to show up), she ran out of his office. He went to his window and looked down on the street below Kazekage tower. She zipped out of the front doors of the tower a moment later and raced toward three teenage girls between ten and thirteen. As Vvim exclaimed to them in her excitement, they all looked at each other and then toward the tower in confusion.

The teens noticed him standing in the window-wall. He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to watch them for a moment until they had picked up their Sand Stones game and disappeared into the crowded area of the street.

A few moments later, the Clan and Elder Councils shuffled into the room with Baki and Kankuro. He could see their reflections in the glass, and most of them were frowning. Baki and Kankuro looked haggled. "None of you are to be here now," Gaara told them. "I sleep at two today."

"Is it true?" one asked, completely ignoring his statement. A few years ago, he would have killed a man for less than interrupting. The elderman's belligerent tone of voice would have been the cause of a painful and extended moment of torture before Gaara killed him. Now, Gaara was in a position where he had to weigh the pros and cons of certain deaths.

Gaara did not turn to face them. "Is what true?" he asked softly, but they all heard him anyway.

"This debacle the city speaks of! What sort of utter humiliation have you brought upon us through your behavior with that child yesterday!"

"HUMILIATION!" Kankuro seethed. Baki had to place a hand on Kankuro's shoulder to keep the boy from reaching out to his puppet storage scrolls on his back. Kankuro silenced himself without needing to be told, but it was apparent he wanted to say much more.

Baki apologized, "I'm sorry, Gaara. I did tell them not to intrude…"

Gaara said nothing. Instead, he tilted his head to look down the street outside as a little flash of blond caught his eye. It wasn't Vvim. It was that blond girl, Ino, and her green-haired companion, Fuyumi. They were giggling about something as they wandered almost aimlessly down the street, stopping to look at the merchandise displayed by street vendors every so often.

Gaara peered closer at the green-haired girl. He'd avoided looking at her all night at Vvim's birthday party, hoping no one knew he was somewhat acquainted with her. She'd been the Konohagakurian girl who had—on a dare from her friends—walked up to him in a restaurant and kissed him, and then gave him a black eye for him puking afterwards. She didn't seem to remember it, but he certainly did. When he wouldn't eat his ramen the night before, Fuyumi had taken his bowl and switched it with her empty one. She never said anything about it. She just did it.

"Are the rumors true? Did you allow a child carry on with such a vile tongue? Did she truly go unpunished!"

Gaara should have known altering his life from the normal course of events would cause people to ask questions… How many people would he have to kill to get them to leave his office? Probably four… How many deaths would it take for them to believe the events of the day before were just a fluke? An ironic smile crossed his lips. Vvim probably couldn't count that high, he presumed.

His eyes narrowed further on Fuyumi and Ino. The girls were admiring something one of the vendors had, and the vendor was moving over toward them. He couldn't see what it was, but the smiles on the girls' faces told him they liked it—whatever _it_ was.

Gaara's distant cousin Lily glared sternly at her fellow Eldermen and at the Clansmen. "What should it really matter to you whether or not _Kazekage-sama_," she emphasized his title, probably in hopes that her fellows might remember who they were addressing, "speaks to a child? And for that matter, why should you care _how_ he speaks to a child? Or how he allows a child to speak to him?"

Shukaku was ignoring the presence of the others as much as Gaara was, surprisingly. The demon said, _Those girls are very beautiful. The green-haired one is more powerful. Did she not say she was a Jounin yesterday?_

"Hn," was his response. He'd been surprised that a fourteen year old girl made Jounin, but he wasn't sure why. He wasn't too much older than her and he was kage of his village. And the blond girl was a Chunin. That wasn't too bad, for a girl. Then again, he was biased based on his knowledge that Sunagakure kunoichi had a higher death rate when compared to their shinobi.

"This city does not need weakness! Our image is what keeps the people from rebellion!"

Gaara took mental note that the Clansmen were scoffing at the four male members of the Elder Council. Of course, Lily's views would probably always follow that of their Matriarch for the Felwin Clan, Lily's mother and current clan leader rather than the church that Lily followed and represented on the Elder Council. Gaara's distant relation, Lady Felwin, believed rebellion would happen if the people chose to make it happen. Whether or not those in power looked weak wouldn't make a difference.

"Image is everything! This city is hanging on by a bare thread, _Kazekage-sama_." Gaara didn't like the tone inflection given to his title. He didn't like the way the voice spoke with a 'we _gave_ you this power, and we can take it away' sound to it.

"The kage cannot be seen as weak. Do you think it makes people look at you and praise you because you made a little girl happy? It doesn't!" He didn't like that tone either. It was cold and malicious; hurtful.

Fuyumi was purchasing something. It was probably overpriced. A lot of merchants over priced things. Ino was next purchasing something. He soon saw what they'd bought. Fine imported silk scarves. Fuyumi's was green and Ino's was blue, both choosing darker shades over lighter colors.

_Cute…_ Shukaku said as the girls wrapped the scarves around their necks.

"You are the host of Shukaku!" They probably wanted to say 'you are a weapon'. "Act like it!"

Lady Felwin spoke up with amusement in her tone, "Gaara," she was his clan Matriarch, and by the order of things, higher in power than him because of that so she very rarely used his title unless it served her purposes (in fact, her usual name for him was 'brat' so actually using his name was almost a treat all on its own), "is barely sixteen. You forget that Noles."

Gaara liked Lady Felwin. She was generally nothing more than a crotchety old woman who simply wouldn't _die_, but he liked her nonetheless. She gave Gaara his house to live in after his mother, father, and uncle were all gone. She paid for his servants, and because of her he didn't have to grow up in the orphanage. She was still giving him weekly allowance. As the Matriarch of the Felwin Clan, she practically owned him, but she got annoyed when he referred to himself as a weapon as he'd so often been treated.

'You're a brat! Act like it!' she often snapped at him.

He often wondered how she lived to be in her mid-eighties. It was a little joke between Kankuro and Temari that the plague was afraid of Lady Felwin; secretly Gaara wondered if that might not be close to the truth. She should've died thirty years ago, but she hadn't even fallen sick once during those thirty years.

"He is _kage_! The kage is ageless!" Noles argued.

"The kage may be ageless," Lily said, "but a title usually is."

"Quit talking 'bout Gaara like he ain't here!" Kankuro growled.

There was Vvim again. Gaara glanced at his clock. Where was Temari? It was almost two PM. He should have had his medicine already so that it was working at two and he could sleep. He didn't trust Shukaku to keep her promise of a possession-free sleep.

Vvim bumped into Fuyumi and Ino, nearly dropping the two wrapped packages in her tiny arms. Fuyumi steadied the child even as she was laughing. Vvim's sisters seemed to be bowing in apology to Fuyumi. Vvim started talking to Fuyumi and Ino. Gaara looked at the two packages, but couldn't tell which one was the candy dish and which was the candy. Then Fuyumi and Ino were urging the little girl toward Kazekage tower with amused looks on their faces.

Gaara turned away from the window and the arguing stopped. He kept his features blank as he addressed them all. "What do you suggest I do to repair this 'image'?" he asked. He kept his voice soft and toneless.

Lily looked annoyed, and Lady Felwin looked displeased. Kankuro looked upset, which meant if Temari had been there she would have been furious. Baki looked agitated.

Noles straightened himself up as the rest of the room looked pleased by the response. "Stay away from the child and let her know that she will _not_ be allowed the gift you promised her."

There was dead silence. Gaara looked around the room. "And I suppose you all agree this is the most practical action to take?"

"NO!" Kankuro yelled, but most of the people simply said 'yes'. "Gaara, that's," Kankuro began, but Gaara glared at him and he slouched in censured silence.

There was a knock on the door before Gaara's assistant poked her head in again and said, "That little child is returned, Kazekage-sama." She still looked uncertain about allowing the child in. She probably thought Vvim raced off before out of fear, not out of joy. "Shall I send her in?"

Gaara nodded as shocked tension snapped at the spines of many. Vvim entered the room with the packages in hand, but stopped uncertainly in the doorway as she saw all the other people present. She held the packages stiffly and protectively, as if worried those well-dressed people might try to take them from her.

Gaara's assistant gave her a gentle nudge. "It's alright," she said quietly, "Kazekage-sama said it was okay. Go on in."

Vvim moved forward a few steps to allow the door to close behind her, but she looked nervous and scared as everyone turned to look at her. Gaara moved away from the window and around his desk. "Come, Vvim," he told her. "You have something for me, do you not?"

She nodded, but instead of heading toward him she backed up until her back ran into wall. She was afraid of the others, but not of him? It was kind of ironic.

"Come here, Vvim," he repeated. Her wide blue eyes went from person to person before she looked at him and bit her lip. Then she squared her shoulders and walked forward. Geis, an Elderman, was in her way so she glared up at the man with her teeth bared.

"Get outta my way, old fart!" she told him in a loud voice. Internally Gaara laughed. Obviously she wasn't afraid enough to let her fears override her sense of stupidity.

Noles glared down at the child, but Gaara said, "I gave her an order, Noles. You are impeding her performance. Move." He had never seen Noles look so furious, but the old man moved. A few others also moved, though they weren't directly in the way. Vvim stepped up to Gaara and smiled brightly, "I got a good one! And the old man said I was the cutest thing his shop ever saw without breaking anything so he gave me something extra! Can I put it on the desk?"

"Yes," Gaara told her, sending a glare around for silence when a few people moved to raise questions. He then watched as she moved around the desk to the chair. She put her packages on the chair and the climbed on it, then lifted the packages to the desk and climbed up onto that, sitting in the vast (thankfully clean) center of the desk as she ripped open the packaging of one of them.

She pulled out a frog-shaped glass jar. The body of the frog was hollowed out, and the glass was colored green. She took a green glass cover from the package and set it on the desk next to her. Her next task was dumping the candy in the jar. She did so as carefully as she could, opening the small cloth sack and tilting it up, letting the small hard candy beads fall tinkling into the jar. She then reached into the first package and took out a small, cute wooden tongs painted with images of flies on both forks of the tongs, while the painted frogs on the handle reached out long red tongues to grab the black morsels. Vvim set that right next to the jar with a smile.

"That's what the old man gave me extra, 'cause I'm so cute! So now you got a Gama-chan just like Nana, only his is his purse. I like his purse better than yours." She looked brightly up at him and he found himself unable to contain a smile of his own. She was contagious… maybe the council was right: he should get rid of her. Except it was too late. "Yours is boring! I can get you a better one if you want. I'm good at getting stuff. Mesa Theroux said so herself. She always lets me get stuff when she's cooking."

He looked at the ridiculous looking candy jar. Sure, it was cute, but it simply looked silly to have such a bizarre piece in the middle of the humorless office.

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" he heard someone say quietly to their neighbor.

Gaara looked at the new addition to his desk and then at the child sitting atop it. "Now, let me ask you a question." Her eyes darted from his face to the beautiful kunai forged of chakra and sand and back to his face again. He could tell the little girl really wanted it.

"What kind of question?"

"If someone tried to take this away, what would you do?"

"Bite them." She said instantly. "It's MY special birthday present!" Vvim gnashed her teeth together.

Gaara smirked and turned to look at his council. "As it is my duty to the city to keep the peace… and to see to your safety… I believe you understand the difficulties of my decision, Council. Convene tomorrow at 0700 hours, and do not be late." He glanced at the girl. "Vvim, you have done well for me. Take a piece of candy and go home. I will not need you further tonight, but you have much work ahead of you before you will earn your present."

The majority of the council looked irate. In swishes of silk robes, they departed, leaving behind Lady Felwin, Lily, Baki, and Kankuro. Vvim excitedly grabbed a yellow bead of hard candy using her fingers instead of the tongs. She probably didn't know what the tongs were for, just that they were given extra. She climbed down off the desk and raced around to hug Gaara's leg.

It took a brief second to recall she wasn't trying to hurt him. Holding his leg briefly seemed to be more of a sign of happiness, so instead of kicking her away he endured the unbelievable torture. There must have been a tolerating expression on his face because even the stiff Baki smiled.

"When can I do more work?" Vvim asked.

Gaara thought for a moment before looking down at her. He automatically converted military time to standard time for her, recalling she had not known when that was the day before. "You may arrive at ten AM."

"Okay! Bye bye, Kazekage-sama!" she chirped before skipping out of the room happily.

When she was gone, Lady Felwin said, "It pleases me to see you so happy, Gaara."

He bowed to his elder, but instantly the smile was wiped off is face. "Thank you, Lady," he told her.

"Mother," Lily said, "this has made us many enemies today. You saw their faces; the Clans and the other Elders will fight against this."

Lady Felwin chuckled. "Let them, dear."

Lily sighed, "Mother, this is no joking matter. As much as I disagree with them, Gaara-san just embarrassed them. You know they're going to retaliate!"

Gaara wearily rubbed his eyes. It was after two. He was so tired. "Where is Temari?" Gaara asked as exhaustion weighed him down. He slipped into his desk chair. A moment ago, he'd had plenty of energy. Now, exhaustion slammed into him like a boulder careening off a cliff. It was crushing, suffocating him. "I need… need my…" What did he need? He'd already forgotten.

"Have you had your medicine, Gaara?" Kankuro asked nervously.

"Mm," was all he could manage to say. His eyelids fluttered briefly. He didn't register the presence of the others, but he felt the sharp claws of the ghostly Shukaku as she landed on his lap. His vision was too blurry to get a good view of her, but he knew she was in her raccoon form, and her ghost-like form was visible only to him.

Her cold, ghost nose pressed against his cheek. _Sleep, cub. For as long as you like._ He wanted to ask where his big sister was, but his tired mind couldn't quite recall what her name was and the words never left his throat a second time.

His mind and body was exhausted, but they wouldn't shut down completely. He was too afraid of the consequences of sleeping without his medicine. Even if Shukaku didn't ravage the village, she'd probably go hunting in the desert, and she never cared what she ate or that it was his body she was using.

She never cared that he was horrified to wake up from that slumber covered in blood and with the taste of bloody animal meat still in his mouth. He used to like meat, but enough times waking up like that certainly made him adverse to eating it, enough that even just the taste of meat would cause him to vomit.

_Sleep, cub,_ she said again, curling up in his lap. But he couldn't… sleep was a dream away, but he couldn't grasp it… he was afraid of himself and what he might do while he slept. _Would you like me to tell you a story? _

Would it put him to sleep?

_It was more than three hundred years ago, when I was first enslaved by humans. I was young and foolish, and my first and only Summoner was naïve enough to follow me. Had it been just me on that ship… but he followed me, and I couldn't do anything without harming him in the process. It was my fault… I loved him too much… _

xXx

"Where am I?" Gaara asked himself, surprised to find himself on a ship in the middle of an endless span of water. He looked around him. People were bustling about with ropes and nets and all manner of equipment. A very important looking figure with a black beard watched the sea, squinting at something Gaara couldn't distinguish in the distance.

Gaara looked around more. He really was on a big wooden ship in the middle of an ocean. He never knew he was so imaginative; he had to be dreaming, because he was in the middle of the desert last he checked.

He saw a red-head who looked much like him walk rather suspiciously toward a door. Gaara followed and when the red-head, _Na'unta_ _his mind provided helpfully_, went through the door, so did Gaara. They followed a stairway down into a smelly lockup, but Na'unta didn't stop at the first three cells. He continued to the last one on the left and reached his arm in as far as he could.

"It's all I could get," Na'unta said, speaking in Suni.

"You did not eat this, did you, Na'unta?" a small voice from inside the cell asked. She also spoke Suni.

"I gotta eat too, you know…"

"Na'unta… this is bad meat… It has disease in it."

"Oh… I thought it tasted funny…"

"My people can—"

The small feminine voice was cut off as the sound of footsteps approached with the feeble light provided by an old oil lantern. Black beard approached. As Na'unta's expression was illuminated, Gaara saw the boy—who couldn't be much older than Gaara—looked terrified.

Black beard scowled at Na'unta and then backhanded the boy. He screamed, "If you wanna be a slave so bad, I'll sell ya at harbor, boy!" Na'unta shook his head vigorously. "Don't wanna be a slave?"

"No, sir, please no." he begged.

"Then toughen up, boy! 'Cause next time I see ya down here, ya gonna regret it! Now get up top and swab the deck!"

Na'unta dashed off but barely a second later, he was back again and black beard was not present. Na'unta was perspiring and clutching his stomach. "I, I brought you something," Na'unta said, reaching into the cell. He stuffed bread through the bars of a cage inside the cell where an obviously starved raccoon lay.

"Thank you, Na'unta…" the raccoon said and then looked thoughtfully at the boy. "If you can get me out of this cage, I can take you to my people. They can help you, Na'unta."

"It's just a day or two till landing." Na'unta said, ignoring the offer for help. "Will you give this to my sister if you ever happen to run into her?" he yanked the necklace from around his neck and dropped it in the cage. It wasn't much to look at. It was just a strip of leather with an innocent little charm on it that looked like a four-leaf clover encased in a hardened sap of some kind.

"Na'unta, where are you going?" the caged animal growled out as the young boy hobbled away from the cell. He didn't make it far before he collapsed and cried out, holding his gut. "Na'unta!" the caged animal shrieked. "NA'UNTA!"

"Q-quiet, Shukaku…" the boy said. She kept screaming his name though, so he struggled to crawl back to the cell and leaned on the bars. Finally she settled down a bit.

"Na'unta, my people can help you! Disease can go away!"

The boy laughed and then it turned into a cough. "I haven't seen my sister since they sold her. I remember she was always so perfect. I always thought I'd marry her when we grew up." Shukaku had fallen silent. Gaara saw the raccoon was crying.

"You never told me her name, Na'unta… Who should I look for?"

"h'Nei… When they sold her, she was bought by the Uki'ha. They wanted her beautiful eyes. She was born with beautiful red eyes, and they had pinwheel pupils. When the shaman did magic, she would watch and then she would be able to do it too." He shuddered and groaned. "Ooh, Shukaku… it hurts…"

"My people can heal you! Just get me out of this cage, Na'unta!"

"No, Shukaku… I can't go back to the pens and that's… that's it for me. I'm just a nobody. Remember how we met?"  
"Yes, cub," she told him. "You were very angry because the slave traders were going to cull the child with violet eyes. It was the only time you ever accessed the ­­­­­Ýæn rœx… I thought to myself you were the one… I thought with all your power, we could go anywhere. I was so happy to have a powerful human like you that I felt slighted when I realized you couldn't use the ­­­­­Ýæn rœx at will."

"I've gotten better in the year since we met." He protested with a weak laugh.

"Well, if you call what you do better…" Shukaku said, sounding both amused and worried at and for the boy.

"Will you promise to find my sister?"

"I would destroy the world if you asked it," Shukaku whined. Na'unta laughed, but it turned into a hacking cough. At the end of the corridor light flowed in as the door was opened. Footsteps clattered down the steps.

Black beard came again and looked down at the sick boy. "Twice in as many days… Makes ya wonder if mightn't he know the demon?" Black beard kicked the boy out of the way of the cell door and opened it up. "Grab the brat," he said to one of the two scruffy figures who had followed him down. Black beard grabbed the cage the raccoon was encased in. Strangely marked strips of paper were plastered all over it, Gaara noticed. Shukaku growled and snapped her jaws at black beard.

Black beard lifted the raccoon to his line of vision and shook the cage violently as though to punish the demon. The necklace fell out, surprising black beard. He picked it up and grinned a black toothed grin.

"NO!" Na'unta cried as he was grabbed roughly by the hair and dragged away. "Shukaku, don't let him have it! Shukaku! It's my sister's! She gave it to me and promised she'd come back to the slave pens for me! She has to get it back! It's hers, Shukaku, please don't let him have it!"

Shukaku fought against the bars but the strange seals worked well against her. Black beard said, "Ha ha! Wonderful! We have the demon's name! And now the demon will watch the boy die!"

Gaara had a feeling that whether or not he got Shukaku's name, black beard would've killed Na'unta in front of Shukaku. Why else would he enter the cell and pick up the cage? He didn't know Na'unta gave Shukaku anything, and it had been too dark to see. It was pure circumstance that the necklace fell out. Circumstance and the rattling of the cage.

And then they were on the deck of the ship. Na'unta was tied to the mast looking fearful. Shukaku was struggling violently to get out of the cage being held by one of the sailors. Black beard was wearing the boy's lucky charm. Black beard took out a grungy looking knife. "Any last words boy?"

Na'unta struggled against the bonds in vain. Black beard took that as a 'no' and grabbed the boy by the hair. Fear radiated out of the boy and seconds later the knife bit deep into Na'unta's throat, pouring out his life fluids.

"BEHOLD!" Black beard shouted to the watching crew, "Tonight we feast!" The boy was still choking on his own blood as black beard called out. The people around cheered, but Shukaku howled in rage. Still, she could not get free of the cage.

The next thing Gaara saw was the cage inside the cell. It was fairly dark, but Gaara could see Na'unta's head was staring with fearful glassy eyes and blood all over his face. The head was not attached to a body. It was plopped down next to Shukaku's cage, and she was crying and unable to look at the head.

A few seconds later, light shone in the cage. Gaara looked up at the same time Shukaku did. A tall, ethereal creature was unlocking the cell. He carried a lantern in one hand, and it lit his features up with a glow. His face was pale in contrast to his orange-red hair that hung in disarray. Glinting crimson eyes showed both danger and mischief in them. He didn't have human ears; instead he had fox ears, covered in orange-red hairs. His fingers were each tipped with dangerous claws and his scowl showed a mouth full of sharp meat eating teeth.

He stepped into the cell, looking odd in comparison to everyone else Gaara had so far seen. Everyone else was filthy, but this creature was clean. He wore loose pants that were firm around his ankles and bloody orange in color. A wide black sash hid the waistline of the pants and the hem of the white haori. On his back was a cloak made of several orange-red fur pelts that hung down to his ankles. Distinctive dark red lines wrapped around his eyes and six lines of the same crimson color marked his cheeks like whiskers. His lips were bloody orange colored.

He wasted no effort on pleasantries. Instead he simply removed the seals on the cage and opened it up, then turned to leave.

Shukaku raged as she crawled out of the cage. "KYUUBI!" she screamed. She attacked him but he caught her by the scruff of the neck and scowled again. "The only way you can be here is if your Summoner is here!"

"How observant of you." He drawled with lack of concern toward her. "You have my condolences for your loss. Take what remains of your human and go before my already tried patience runs out."

"HOW COULD YOU? YOU LET HIM KILL NA'UNTA!" She scrabbled to get him, to get any piece of him she could. He wasn't allowing it.

"No, _you_ let him kill your human!" Kyuubi hissed. "Do not pin your personal failure on me! You said you were ready for a human and the responsibilities it brings. You were wrong and your human died for it. I am being merciful and setting you free. Take my mercy and your human and go, before I change my mind."

"So who is it?" Shukaku hissed as he dropped her. She scrabbled over to Na'unta's head and wrapped her paws around it. "Which one is yours?"

"The one who killed yours is mine." He said emotionlessly.

"Oh, you mean the one who sells our kind into slavery? And you help him?" She scoffed but he turned away. "Yeah, that must make you feel real good about yourself. Does the King know what you do? I bet you he wouldn't like it too much if he found out."

There was no warning for it. Shukaku couldn't react fast enough to get away. Kyuubi slammed Shukaku back into the cage and reapplied the seals. He left without another word. Shukaku struggled again in her cage. "Na'unta was a good boy! HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE! _Damn you, Kyuubi!_" She was crying again. He was gone. Na'unta's unseeing eyes stared dully at the caged raccoon.

It was awful to watch her cry. Gaara wanted to reach out and free her, to wrap his arms around her and comfort her, but when he did his hands never touched her. It was like he couldn't get close enough. He wanted to wake up from this dream. When he awoke, he was going to tell Shukaku 'no more bedtime stories'.

xXx

"Ooh, look at this one!" Min Maito gasped.

Rin couldn't if she wanted to. Her arms were piled so full of garments she couldn't see anything but a vast array of color. If it weren't for the fact that dropping them all would seem rude, Rin might have done just that.

"This is lovely! And the fabric, so soft!" More weight was added onto Rin's pile. She nearly buckled under the strain of the ton of clothes. "Rin-chan, why don't you go try those on?"

Rin grunted as she shifted the clothes in her arms and then said, "Now?"

"M-hm. The dressing rooms are at the back of the store, dear. Leave the ones that don't fit you on the rack outside the dressing room. Con, stay with me. Don't jostle the cart like that or you might wake your brother." Min didn't seem to notice that Arthura was awake and squawking like a bird.

Oh, Rin thought, dressing rooms. She felt silly for even thinking she might end up changing in the middle of the store. She shifted the load again and practically had to walk sideways just so she could see where she was going.

She couldn't wait until the torture of 'shopping' was over. Sure, it was very nice of Min to "spare no expense" on her (Min had wanted a daughter but said after Arthura, she would not go through pregnancy again) but Rin only needed an outfit or two. She had to have at least thirty in her hands already and Min was still looking through the racks. Worse still, they were only on the second rack in the store.

Rin looked at the sign above the archway leading to the dressing rooms to assure herself she was headed in the right direction, and then sidled sideways toward the archway.

"Miss, I'm sorry, but you can only have up to six items in the dressing room at once, and I think you're over the limit," someone—female, by the sounds of it though Rin couldn't see them over the pile—said.

Rin grunted in slight irritation as she turned around and around so she could locate the speaker. It was indeed a girl. She stood behind a counter and wore a nametag. "Mari," her nametag read.

"You know," Rin said (and unfortunately her irritation did pull through in her tone), "I'd love not to try these on, but I just got out of prison and I have no clothes of my own that _fit_. What do you suggest?" Rin added, "Because wearing my host's clothes isn't going to work. I have a string 'round my waist keeping this skirt up, and I don't have any underwear that fit me and even if my host's underwear fit, I wouldn't wear it."

The girl shifted uncomfortably when Rin mentioned being in jail. Then she said, "If you want… you can leave some of the clothes with me? But it's company policy…"

"Thank you. I would appreciate that." Rin dumped the clothes next to the counter and grabbed the top six items. Mari winced as Rin stood up and smiled at her. "Oh come off it," Rin told her cheerfully. "It's not like I was in there for murder."

"What were you in for?" Mari asked and then clapped her hands over her mouth abruptly. "I'm sorry, that was really rude of me…"

"It's not rude… I would have asked." Rin looked at the six slightly crumpled items and then bargained, "I'll tell you why if you do something for me." Perhaps she had hung around the demons in prison too long. Their "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" disposition had rubbed off on her. She was too used to giving only upon promise of return. But unlike her fellow demons, she wouldn't retaliate if the return never happened. She did still make deals though.

"What is it?" she looked nervous and hesitant to agree.

"I just need help knowing what looks good on me. And I need an honest opinion. I want to look good when I see my brother, but I'm not really a discriminate judge of myself."

Mari blinked several times before nodding. "I guess I can do that. No catches though, right? And you won't be mad at me if I say something you don't like? You're not one of those psychos are you?"

Rin shook her head. "No, I'm completely sane, though I have to say I fear for the warden's sanity after dealing with me." Rin grinned to show she was joking; Mari laughed nervously. "Besides, why would I get angry? I'm asking you what you think, not what will make me preen in my own sense of self-importance. So how do I go about using a dressing room?"

"Well, you come to me and get a numbered card that hangs on the handle of the door. That lets people know the dressing room is in use and it tells me how many items you took into the room." She handed over a red card labeled '6'. "And when you have the clothes on, you can step out here and I can let you know how you look. Is that okay?"

"That works," Rin said. She headed to the dressing room and tried on the first pair of pants Min had picked out. Instantly she knew she didn't like them. They were tight, scooped low on her hips, and not to mention _blue_. She practically had to peel the jeans off. What ever happened to orange clothes? Did Kakashi have to buy her kimono special? Rin hadn't seen a speck of orange since she left her brother's hooded sweatshirt in the shopping cart to hide Min's purse.

Rin slipped back into the purple skirt of Min's and tied the string back on to hold the fabric up. She took the six pairs of pants out to Mari. "That was quick," Mari said.

"I do not like these. Where shall I put them?"

Mari took them from Rin and hung them on a rack. Rin dug in her pile and took out all the pants, then handed those to Mari and got six more items to try on. She took those in the dressing room; this time skirts. She tried them on one at a time and headed out to show Mari. Each time, Mari gave a nice and guarded opinion of the skirt.

Rin kept up that pattern, eliminating things that simply didn't fit. Mari wasn't really much help in the end because Rin had unnerved her. Rin made a mental note not to mention that she'd been in jail in the future. It seemed to cause people distress.

Just when Rin thought she was on her last bit of the pile, she came out and found Mari holding a stack of new articles. Min probably brought it over, but Rin just knew within the depths of her soul that they were for her to try on. Mari laughed nervously as Rin's irritation peaked and her eyebrow twitched. "Ha-ha," Mari said, "you know, you're the first girl I've ever known who didn't like clothes shopping… But that skirt looks good on you…"

"Every skirt has so far looked good on me!" Rin said. "No one has the ability to make everything they wear look good! You're just saying that because you think I'm dangerous." She grabbed the pile and dropped it on the floor by the counter in a complete lack of concern for the articles of clothing. "I'm not dangerous. I just never cried as a baby so my foster parents claimed I had to be a demon and they locked me up for fifteen years." Well, that was what Rin had been told anyway. For all she knew, the reason could have been totally different.

"Oh… I'm sorry," Mari apologized. She looked embarrassed.

"Now why are you sorry?" Rin asked in exasperation. "It isn't like it was your fault."

"But I was… I don't know…" Mari sighed. "I'm still sorry." She took a deep breath before plunging forward, "But you really do look good. Not that I'm a fashion expert or anything, but from what I've seen, it's like color was made with you in mind."

Rin groaned and grabbed six more items. What a bad first afternoon out of prison… As she tried on the first item, she grimaced. She'd gone from skirts down to her ankles to skirts barely reaching her thighs. Min was crazy if she thought Rin would wear something like that.

A knock at the dressing room door caused her to pause in her contemplation of the tiny strip of cloth in her hands. She hastily slipped into the tiny thing—it was better to put it on than to stand there in a pair of 8-year-old pajama shorts that fit like underwear on her 16-year-old body.

She opened the door. Mari stood there with something orange held to her bosom. Rin's brow creased in confusion. "Yes?"

"I brought something for you to try on." Mari said. She held out the dress for Rin to see. It was the best thing Rin had seen all day, and it was orange. It had a triple strip of violet swirling down the dress from the right shoulder across the breast, around the back and down to the front hem.

"Wow…" It was all Rin could think of to say.

Mari smiled hesitantly. "I've only been here a month but this dress was supposed to be the new fashion statement. Not one has sold, but it's not for lack of women admiring it… It's just that so far no one has been able to make the colors work for them. I mean, violet and bright orange can be a near lethal combination when you're under the scrutiny of the public… It's too daring of an arrangement, most say."

Rin reached out and accepted the dress to try on. "I think orange and purple make a great assortment. Thank you… I'll try it on."

Mari nodded and turned to leave, but not before saying, "I wouldn't recommend short skirts like that. They scream invitations to rapists, and since you're female, your body already screams that enough. No need to send out more signals. You know?"

Rin nodded. Good thing she didn't like the skirt length or else she might have been disappointed. She closed the door on the dressing room quickly and changed into the dress. It was the fanciest thing she'd ever worn, though since she grew up in a prison she supposed that fact wasn't as surprising as it could be.

The hem nearly reached the floor and it was just a little too big, but as she looked at herself in the mirror she was astounded at the sight looking back at her. She could barely recognize herself. Her hair was a bit mussed from trying on clothes, but she didn't see a single hint of her mother in herself. Her black hair and brown eyes could have belonged to anyone else.

For years, she had hated how she had grown to look so much like her mother. She had begged the Four Goddesses to change her appearance and make her a blond haired, blue eyed girl. Hating her own appearance was one reason why she could never look at herself and say she looked good because she felt she always looked bad.

But she couldn't deny that the dress was beautiful and that it looked beautiful on _her_. Maybe the dress made her beautiful?

She struggled to tie the back closed but eventually just gave up and held it firm as she walked out toward the counter where Mari worked. Min had just arrived with a completely new stack of clothes for Rin to try on, but upon seeing Rin the older woman's jaw dropped.

"My dear, you look fantastic, simply breathtaking! My gracious, I would never have thought to put orange and purple together!" Min exclaimed. Mari looked and she too looked stunned.

"Um, it's a little big," Rin objected, embarrassed to be trying on something Min hadn't previously handled.

"That's alright," Mari said, "I could take the dress in. I worked at the seamstress back home for a while, so it wouldn't be too hard. You'll be too tall for our smaller sizes, unfortunately."

"Oh, wonderful, dear, would you? Rin-chan simply _must_ have it!"

Rin winced slightly at Min's enthusiasm. "Min, the price of the dress," she began, but Min would hear nothing of it.

"A-bup-bup-bup-bup! None of that! You will have a new wardrobe with clothing for every occasion, and no exclusions! Now go take off the dress and try on some more clothes. I have blouses in this new stack of clothes." Min left with the cart and her two sons to scour the rest of the store for potential wardrobe items.

Mari giggled far more easily than she had in the past few hours since Rin began the whole debacle. "She does seem like a nice lady. You could do a lot worse, you know. I'm living with my cousin right now and he barely gives me enough room to breathe. He means well, but I had to scream at him to let me leave the compound and get a job. I'm not one to be cooped up."

"To leave the compound? Where do you live?" Rin asked.

"Inuzuka District," Mari said. "I moved in with my cousins because my family was beginning to stifle me with worried concern. As it turns out, I moved from one oppressive household to another. If you stop by the district sometime this week, I can do a fitting for you… that is, if you don't mind dogs. Kiba barely allows me to have this job on weekends; I think at this point I'm pushing my luck if I try to head off somewhere and he doesn't know."

"Why can't you go anywhere?"

"Like I said, he's just worried for me. He'll cool off after a while when he sees that I'm safe."

Rin could sympathize with Mari's feelings at being stuck. She spent so many hours just locked up in her cell that when the time came for being outside in the yard, she was almost always the first one out, and the last one back in. She took a few more clothes to change into and got out of the dress.

Each time she came out to get Mari's opinion, the girl became more and more critical of the clothes, but more and more complimenting of Rin. She would say Rin looked excellent in the color but the cut of the blouse was off, or that Rin looked extraordinary in the blouse but the problem was that the blouse would need this color skirt or that type of pants in order to pull it off.

Rin decided fashion simply wasn't her thing, and she told Mari as much. "Give me a dirty old apron, some seeds, and a patch of dirt and I'll give you a garden more pleasing than all your neighbors gardens combined. Give me a closet of clothes, and I'll never get dressed because I won't know what shirt or blouse goes with what skirt or pair of pants, and that's not even mentioning how important you said the 'cut' of the fabric is, or the type of fabric, or how stripes and flowers just don't match. I'll wear stripes with flowers, because it won't matter once they're dirt stained anyway!"

Mari giggled as Rin stormed into the dressing room with more clothes. Thankfully Rin didn't see Min on her way with more clothes or she might have blown a fuse in her brain in her struggle to remain polite.

* * *

**Don't ever try to outsmart a story. It never works! **Dark Inu Fan (guess you'll have to wait to find out), Rebel Reader Bitch (ok!), supersillee06 (yeah, and the chapter was a bitch to write because of all that information too), DarknesstoLight (FREDDY KRUEGER! AHHHH!), zoey tamagachi, Ichihime (Er, yes. Originally his birthday was to be the 10th in my story too, but then I forgot, so let's pretend it was purposeful. Besides, it works better for my story if the birthday and the attack are separate, so...), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (This story is NaruHina, or it will be if I ever get around to it...), DarkRavie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter50 after I posted chapter 51.

ANSWER: DarknesstoLight did a cute little rendition of the Freddy Krueger taunting song to make you review. Go read it and inspire yourself to review! Sorry for so much information overload in the past couple chapters but it had to happen. Please don't expect long chapters all the time.

_Paul is making me nervous, Paul is making me scared, into this room he swaggers like he's God's own messenger... (he has a review for me... do I want to know what it says?)_


	52. Dream Soother

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 52: Dream Soother

With every day looming closer to September, a very surprising amount of Chunin-hopefuls began to show up with their Jounin teachers. Tsunade had cancelled the Konohagakure August Chunin exams which had been set to commence mid-August so she could throw her full support behind Sunagakure. If a Genin wanted to take the exam, they had to go to Sunagakure for it.

The district designated for housing the teams set to take the exams was soon filled with Genin almost to bursting point. There were certainly not as many contestants as would normally be taking the Chunin exams in Konohagakure, but being that it was the very first time the exams were being held in Sunagakure, it was still surprising how many came.

Sakura watched Naruto closely whenever she could. She was struggling internally over the things she'd read in his journal, and still confused over her phone discussion with Tsunade about dreams.

"Dreams and nightmares are often just subconscious hopes and fears, even if they seem ridiculously impossible." Tsunade had told her. When Sakura admitted she wasn't sure what Tsunade meant, the Hokage said, "What was your last dream about, Sakura?"

Sakura was about to say, 'Sasuke leaving us again,' when _Inner Sakura_ interrupted. "I dreamt of a corpse in a bathroom…" She should have said Naruto dreamt it, but it seemed too large a piece of her was too disgusted at herself for even touching what wasn't meant for her eyes to blurt out what she'd read. It was Naruto's business… She thought she knew her friend well enough to be sure he wasn't a psycho. He was Nana Reiss after all!

But what about that tiny part of her that objected to keeping the secret? What did she really know about him? It was really just like she'd told Terrence; sometimes Naruto was so different from how he usually portrayed himself (so unlike his cheery, energetic self) that she could look at him and sometimes she wouldn't be sure he was really him. If he turned out to be dangerous…

"Hopes and fears and desires and life experiences, Sakura. They cause you to have dreams. And the sub conscience feeds off of these for the better or worse. Shinobi and kunoichi—especially kunoichi as most are generally more sentimental and creative than their male counterparts—are especially susceptible to have nightmares because often times the things we experience are unpleasant. As a medic-nin, you've probably seen more blood and death than your teammates in just a few days at the hospital; I believe that may have had an even larger influence on you. Not only have you witnessed death, but you've witnessed _dying_."

At that point, Sakura felt no closer to having any answers. She didn't want to think Naruto's dream was a life experience because if it was… then there was the suggestion that Naruto could be a danger to those around him. If he fell asleep and woke with blood on his hands, recalling a dead body in a bloody bathtub… what did that say about the experience?

She should really tell Tsunade about what she read, but something kept holding her back. "Is it okay to write down my nightmares, or would it be wrong to?" Sakura asked instead.

Tsunade had gulped something down at that point. It was probably sake… in the middle of the day. "It is a _very good_ idea to write down dreams, good or bad. Writing down bad dreams can ultimately help you uncover subconscious fears that may cause you to freeze up at the wrong moment in the future if they aren't coped with. Writing down good dreams can help you to identify what it is you really want out of life and in that knowledge you can develop a plan for the future."

"So my dreams are my true self, deep down?"

Tsunade sighed heavily at that point. "Perhaps I'm not the best to talk to about this…"

"Why not, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura had asked at that point.

"Because I'm by no means an expert. All I know about dreams is what I was told as a child, and that is—to be simple—you can change the course of events in your dream if you want it enough." In the background, there was talking. Shizune needed Tsunade for something. "I'll tell you what. There is a Dream Soother in Sunagakure. If you hold on, I'll see if I can find his name and address."

As Sakura waited for Tsunade to get the information, she asked, "What's a Dream Soother do?"

"They interpret dreams, mostly. I think it's all a hoax to get money, and they can make some big cash doing it, but he'll be able to explain things far better than I can. Even though most of the amateur Dream Soothers know very little in their field, this man is said to know more about dreams and dream interpretation than anyone you'll ever meet. Just keep in mind, this type of guy is the type to watch your purse around. If I recall correctly, he's handsome and he's very good at flattery." Sakura heard a brief word of triumph and then Tsunade said, "His name is Yko Imakuzu."

She'd been given Yko Imakuzu's address, and a few days later when Temari visited Naruto's house, with Naruto still holed up in his office sorting through years of neglected paperwork from when the city still owned the orphanage, Sakura pulled Temari aside. She wasn't needed much; Naruto was healing up very nicely on his own, and Sakura was beginning to think Tsunade had exaggerated the extent of Naruto's wounds to get out of doing Hokage duties. Since Naruto's official work wouldn't start until the day before the first Chunin exam, Sakura was also not needed around to make sure he was wearing proper 'state function worthy' attire or to remind him to be manner-minded and on his best behavior (no slurping food at table, no elbows on table, back straight, chin up, inside voices, no fidgeting, no yelling, no screaming, no pinching, no biting, no punching, no kicking, no name calling…etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…).

She'd looked Temari straight on before asking, "Do you think you could show me to Yko Imakuzu's office or whatever he has?" Temari had given Sakura the strangest look, so Sakura explained, (or rather, lied in a bald-faced manner), "I'm researching dreams and what effect they have on the psyche. Hokage-sama gave me Yko Imakuzu as a reference to talk to."

Temari raised an eyebrow before saying, "I suppose I talk to him. See if he wants to see you, and if so, I could schedule you an appointment."

"An appointment?" Sakura asked. She knew she sounded surprised.

"Yeah. Yko's a busy guy, and he doesn't really care for people who believe conventional research can explain dreams. 'Dreams are an explanation unto themselves,' he's always saying to me. Annoying twit." She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her hand-fan on her shoulder.

"Do you know him?" Sakura asked curiously.

Temari nodded. "He's my cousin. Son of the daughter of my great-great-great-great Aunt." Temari chuckled quietly to herself as if laughing at an internal joke.

"Well, if he's your cousin, can't you work something out so I can meet him?"

Temari had pondered silently for a moment before saying, "I'll see what I can do, but I won't make promises."

After that, all Sakura could do was wait until Temari could let her know a definite answer from Yko. She saw Temari often as she struggled to learn the layout of the city. The streets were all lain out so haphazardly, she got lost more than once.

As the days passed and more Chunin-hopefuls showed up in the city, everyone was becoming increasingly antsy. Naruto was especially edgy as the day before the first exam came up. He was nervous because he had to make a speech on behalf of Konoha. Shizune had written it and it was filled with big words Naruto couldn't even pronounce, much less understand. He wasn't really giving the speech out to that many people; only Konohagakure's Chunin-hopefuls and their Jounin leaders would probably be present for the speech.

For as much as he tried to memorize the speech, it was impossible to do it. And it wasn't actually a very big speech! It was a customary speech all the other countries had someone say before the first Chunin exam that was supposed to remind the Chunin-hopefuls of the differences in culture. Like one of the differences between Konoha and Suna were the shoes. Since sand was already everywhere, most of Suna did not take their shoes off at the door, while in Konoha, shoe mats were almost standard.

In short, Naruto thought Shizune's speech was a piece of crap and it was going to strangle him with its huge overload of information. She had full lists of statistics that backed up the information, charts and diagrams, and even a reference page detailing where she first located whatever piece of information she'd used in the speech (or rather, book).

Just hours before he was supposed to present the speech, he began feeling queasy and questioning whether or not he really wanted to be Hokage. If he couldn't make public speeches, then perhaps that wasn't truly the career he wanted to pursue… He could always go for Hunter-nin like Fuyumi… but then he'd have to kill… It would really be inevitable.

He actually thought it might be worth it to disappear for a few hours so he could conveniently miss the meeting; after all, someone else would just do the speech for him, wouldn't they?

He sighed as he pulled on his white haori to his newly made formal attire. He _was_ going to wear his mother's red-orange sundress (it was an impulsive action to bring it, as he by no means really cared whether or not he had it) since he had it along, but Terrence and Mesa Theroux put a stop to _that_ idea. He felt a bit frustrated as he recalled Shizune insisting he get fitted for new formal attire before he left for Suna, as if his church clothes weren't good enough for state functions.

He'd argued with Shizune when she tried to put him in sky blue though… at least Tsunade had been sober enough to intervene, so Naruto did get the colors he wanted. His haori was white and had his whirlpool crest _embroidered_ on the back in the finest red and black threads. The sleeves were almost wide enough to fit his head in at the wrist. Naruto _wanted_ to pretend this outfit didn't exist, but Sakura had seen it in his bag and insisted he wear it—and she'd recruited Vvim to the task of 'insisting'.

Naruto never once wondered how or why Sakura would have seen he had formal attire in his bag. He trusted her too much to give the fact a second thought, therefore it simply went in one ear and out the other and then he was trudging up to his room (where Sakura was sleeping at night) to get himself dressed while Sakura waited for him in the hallway with Vvim and even Sasuke.

He dragged on the bright orange hakama. The seams were all sewn with pure black thread. Unlike his formal church attire, these pants fit to his ankles rather than cutting short like Capri pants would. His sash wrapped around his waist to cover the hems and was black in color.

He _did not_ like the formal attire. He even had to have new socks and Tsunade made sure he had new split toe sandals. His socks were _white_. He had perfectly good orange socks! Why did he have to wear white ones? Why did he have to be so bloody similar to everyone else?

The frustrated (and still nervous) young ambassador scratched his head vigorously to attempt to tame his wild hair. He'd been letting it grow out but apparently that had consequences he hadn't previously been aware of. Now he might need to invest in a comb. He had snarls, and he looked like a mess, and he was beginning to see a dark ring forming under his visible left eye. It was because he'd been trying to memorize that stupid speech Shizune wrote that he was so tired!

"Don't do that, Nana," Terrence said as he secured the sash behind Naruto. Ordinarily, Naruto might dress himself, but he had to rely on Terrence for a few things because his hand was still broken and still in a rather annoyingly bulky cast, and his torso was littered with still-healing wounds that were painful when they were stretched wrongly. He had purposefully stopped taking medicine for the pain because Kyuubi said it was affecting his healing processes. Sakura only agreed because Naruto lied and said nothing hurt. She knew he was lying though.

"It's messy though," Naruto said.

"You really _were_ born an idiot," Terrence grumbled. "Stop fussing with it. You're only making it worse. And I thought you knew all about hair styling?"

"_Girl_ hair styles! Guys don't style their hair." Naruto objected.

Terrence peered over Naruto's shoulder toward the mirror in front of them. He had an 'oh really' expression on his face. "Cleo's a guy…"

"No, Cleo's a _gay_. There's a difference." Naruto retorted.

"Well, unless you want to look like a rogue robber, you should do something with your hair other than mess it up worse." Terrence stood back away from Naruto and smiled. "Looks good, Nana. Wouldn't be too surprised if you found yourself hounded as badly as 'Nana Reiss' gets."

Naruto looked at his reflection, and saw himself staring back with a dead expression on his face. His expression was a basic conveyance of what he felt over the dumb outfit. But then he twisted himself around and the quality of the clothes was incredible. His church attire wasn't so nicely made.

He glanced around the room and saw Sakura's hair brush on the table next to the bed. He grabbed it up and ran it through his hair, yanked out half his hair with the tangles, and made sense of the mess—though he was careful not to make it _too_ perfect. He was straight… no question about that.

After that, Naruto made his way to the door. He threw open the door and immediately was attacked by a blond girl who was so cute she couldn't be denied a single thing—or at least, Naruto could not deny her anything. He laughed at her as he swung her up into his arms and planted kisses all over her face in a playful manner. She giggled happily.

He liked to hear her laughter. The sound of happy children was music to his ears. _No one_ should ever have to live the way he did growing up. At least, that was his opinion anyway.

If there was one thing in his life that he had done right, he liked to think adopting these kids was that one thing.

"Nana, you look really pretty just like me!" Vvim said excitedly.

Sakura was attempting to regain her composure. She'd been staring at him with her jaw dropped open. "Don't wet yourself now," Naruto snickered at her. After that, she came back to herself fairly quickly. She pinched his ear with her nails. Hard.

It was a brief walk to the building the meeting would be held in after that. Vvim complained about staying home with Mesa Theroux but her complaints didn't last long before she smelled Mesa Theroux's baking cookies. Naruto complained that none of his friends had to wear formal attire… but they merely pointed out that _he_ was ambassador, and _they_ were practically just along for the ride.

Sasuke laughed outright at Naruto upon seeing the boy all dressed up. Lee had congratulated Naruto on a youthful and magnificent appearance. Ino and Ten-Ten had said Naruto looked really great. Fuyumi called his appearance 'lick-worthy' and Hinata had nothing to say because her illness kicked in again and she fainted right in front of him. Ino managed to wake her up, but she was all red and flushed for quite a while afterward.

Naruto made a point to scowl fiercely at Sasuke. "I'd like to see _you_ make a stupid outfit like this look so good." Naruto snapped at him. Sasuke only laughed harder. Naruto could hardly blame Sasuke for laughing; the outfit just looked so ridiculous on Naruto, and it wasn't his colors either. It was Naruto's face: he had the type of face that didn't quite match finery. His mischievous features gave the impression that he stole the outfit.

"Naruto, you look fine!" Sakura insisted earnestly.

"Yes, indeed!" Lee shouted exuberantly, "You look much like the great image of Yondaime Hokage-sama's head on the stone monument!"

Naruto's face flamed without his permission. He chose not to say anything about that, but Lee's shout had sobered Sasuke right up. Without further comment on Naruto's clothes, they set out for the academy. The Chunin-hopefuls would be gathering there for him. On the way, he let Fuyumi and Ino lead using the map they had of the city rather than taking shortcuts he knew about. His hope was that if they took longer, he might get the speech memorized.

He had no such luck. Soon he had arrived and he was subjected to the scrutiny of his fellow Konohagakurians. The attention garnered from his new role of ambassador made all the tiny pieces of the speech he did memorize flee from his brain. He was frozen, and the Jounin leaders were directing contemptuous glares at him. Their students—clearly having picked up the attitudes of the Jounin leaders—were giving him equally condescending looks.

Naruto's hands felt clammy, and the prepared speech was becoming crinkled and torn. He had barely made it four feet inside the doorway. Sasuke nudged him toward the front of the classroom. He felt like he was dreaming one of his nightmares, except it wasn't anything like those at all.

He always saw terrible scenes in those, blood splattered and war filled.

He stumbled toward the front and his friends all took positions off to the side of the room. They would also need to hear the information to avoid as many cultural bloopers as possible.

He attempted to gather his scattered brain but it had apparently jumped ship rather than sink with him in this mess of idiocy. Such a shame… he could use it right about now.

The longer he stood at the front of the classroom, the more the Chunin-hopefuls began to whisper amongst themselves. Could he even talk? Was he dumb? What was Hokage-sama thinking to send an _idiot_ to be ambassador? Someone even made mention of Naruto still being a Genin. Another person mentioned he was the one who often painted Hokage monument, and someone else made note of how Naruto was a vandal.

And then someone said what he needed to hear to get himself back on track. "I'll bet Hokage-sama sent him here just to get rid of him."

His visible blue eye focused in on the boy who said that. He couldn't keep a feral grin from his face, which inevitably led to his extra long canines showing. Naruto watched the Jounin all cringe and several reached for their kunai holsters in as discrete a manner as possible, though he did see the movement.

"Yes. The old bag just couldn't _wait_ to get rid of me." Naruto drawled, and merely because he felt like toying with the Jounin, he glanced around at them and licked his lips. If they hadn't realized after sixteen years that he wasn't a danger to them, then he _would_ play with their ridiculous fears. "That's _got_ to be the reason! Nope, I can't think of anything else!"

His friends all either grinned or smiled; he wasn't frozen any more. It wasn't like they could help him out… they didn't know anything about Suna. They needed the orientation as much as everyone else.

Naruto lifted the prepared speech so it was in his line of vision and began reading. "Thank you all for coming to Sunagakure and to this orientation. You do well on behalf of…"

Naruto stopped reading and flicked through the first few pages. "Anyway," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "I'm _not_ going to waste a shit load of time thanking and glorifying you brats." He began again as Kyuubi laughed noisily in his head. The Jounin instructors looked annoyed. Naruto attempted to read a few more lines, but after a moment or two of reading, he saw half of the students were already snoozing. So he did the best thing he could think of and threw the speech at the closest student's head. It hit him and popped his snooze bubble. "Hey! I'm trying to tell you important stuff so you don't start some sort of war!"

"_We_ aren't as stupid as _you_!" one of them said. "We aren't going to start a war or cause trouble!" Several others apparently agreed.

Naruto decided he didn't like the snotty girl. "Oh really?" he asked her. "Then why don't you stand up and tell us all what the fuck you know about Suna culture."

"They're just like us!" the girl said instantly, though she didn't stand like he'd instructed. "They're a military run territory."

"You think so?" She nodded. "You think wrong; this city is run by two things: the glass industry, which is near completely owned by the Felwin clan of which the current Kazekage is a part of. The revenue of the glass industry keeps this city able to import food goods and clothing. The second thing that keeps this city running is the _slave trading_. The wealthy don't have servants. They have slaves to do their work for barely more than a few table scraps a day." He glared at the shocked faces all over the room, though the Jounin instructors weren't so surprised, and Sasuke didn't even look a little bit shocked. "Now tell me they're like us!"

He got no words from them. "I thought so. Now instead of sleeping like losers, pay attention. Cultural differences are the cause of wars all the time, and though you may not like the things you encounter in the next six or seven months, you need to know what they are and you _have_ to know how to react."

The room filled with attentive silence, so Naruto decided to forgo the stupid flowery speech and just tell the kids like it was. Sunagakure was reliant heavily on merchants, and certain 'merchants' were better known as slave traders. He told them if they saw a covered wagon then they should avoid it at all costs and under no circumstances are they to approach it. It was hard for them all, having grown up in a free nation, to imagine slavery.

"Do not engage in conversation with a slave. You can't do anything about their situation except make it worse for them. You can tell a slave from free people by the metal collar and the fact that most don't look anywhere except the ground. Some people treat slaves like dirt and don't even allow them to have clothes, but other slaves are allowed clothes. Look for the metal collar and don't approach them." He said.

Naruto told them to never enter a slave pen, and when traveling around the city to always keep in groups of three to avoid being nabbed. He explained that it was a very likely possibility they could be kidnapped and sold, and told them if they were caught, _he_ wasn't going to save their asses because _they_ should have listened to him.

"While we're on the subject, the people of the Zodiac Mountains are going to be participating in the Chunin exams and they sell their own people into slavery; avoid them, 'nuff said."

When Naruto finished telling them all he could think of in the differences in culture, he told them to be mindful of their health. "Use sunscreen. This may be the wet season, but you'd be surprised how fast humans can transform into extra crispy chicken in Suna. My first visit, I burned so bad the whole back of my neck is just one giant mass of scar tissue, and I've got the type of skin that doesn't burn easily."

When he had exhausted all the topics he could think of, he looked around at them all. The Jounin leaders didn't look as hostile toward him now, and a few of them even seemed mildly astonished. The kids, whatever age they were (some of them were older than him, but a few were his age—though it was clear none of them were straight out of the academy) seemed to harbor a new impression of him, and he liked to think it was good.

"Well, that's all I got for now. If you have questions, I'm always around somewhere." The Jounin instructors even looked startled at that statement, though Naruto wasn't sure why. Old man Hokage used to answer all Naruto's questions if Naruto could find him. "If you can find me, I'll try to have an answer."

A girl raised her hand, and then spoke before he could acknowledge her. "I heard Nana Reiss lives here. Is it true?"

Naruto gave the girl his driest look he could muster. "Nana Reiss is on an extended vacation." It was true enough. Naruto couldn't transform into Nana until the wound on his chakra circulatory system healed up fully, otherwise it would rip open again, and with all his wounds _and_ a completely broken hand it was taking a lot longer to heal than it would've if he just had the wound on his chakra circulatory system. Kyuubi had to spread his healing ability out to all the wounds, and that made the single processes slower.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I'm so cool I get to stay at his house," Naruto grumbled. "And no, you can't stay there. His kids would bite you, or something. Or I would hope they would. Anyone have a real question?" Dead silence and a few pouting females was his response. "Okay, we're done here then. Good luck with your written exams. The test is at eight AM. Those who don't pass the written exam will be sent home."

After that, the Chunin-hopefuls and their Jounin instructors left and Naruto's friends bombarded him with questions. Does Suna really have slaves? Why can't anything be done about the slaves and about slavery? It was a very big issue; and it was something he loathed about Suna. But Jiraiya had forced him to realize that, short of declaring war or paying to a bottomless pit to free all the slaves individually, he could do nothing about slavery.

He didn't have that kind of money though. Jiraiya taught him that some of the richer families purchased slaves, but rather than keeping the slave bound, they would free them and make loyal servants out of them, but those families were considered very progressive and were scorned by the conservative families as 'promoting rebellion' amongst slaves who thought themselves better than they were.

Naruto answered their questions as best as he knew how for a few minutes. At least they were giving him time to answer them all now. Fuyumi took to the idea of slavery about as well as Tsunade took to a wall when angered. She was almost roaring to incite a rebellion right then and there—and _lead_ it. "Storm the gates of the conservatives!" he pictured her screaming, standing in a Gai-like pose with a magnificent sunrise backdrop and a crashing wave behind her… He shook himself out of his wild imagination.

"I'm hungry," Naruto said at last.

Sakura looked at her watch before saying, "You have a luncheon with Gaara-san and the other ambassadors in an hour… can't you wait?"

Naruto sighed desperately. "I didn't get _breakfast_. For all you know, I could be pregnant!" She looked at him like he was crazy. Of course, he hadn't told her he could have babies if he wanted to. "And you'd be denying my baby food, and," he placed a dramatic hand on his stomach, "hang in there, baby," he cooed at his stomach.

Fuyumi laughed and reached out, rubbing his tummy, "Who's your baby's daddy?" she teased him with a wink. Lee didn't seem to get it, but his other friends laughed at the implications Fuyumi's statement brought.

"Sakura-chan," Lee chirped excitedly, "would you like to join me for a youthful picnic by the watering hole while Naruto-kun is busy with the luncheon?"

"No, Lee." She smiled and was clearly intent on saying no more, but then Ino was the one who spilled the beans.

"She's got a date with _Terrence_." Ino said, giggling.

Fuyumi said, "I don't blame her. Damn, that boy is hot. Just looking at him makes me want to pour strawberry ice cream on him and lick it off." Sakura blushed. And so did everyone else, as a matter of fact. "What? You _can't_ tell me you haven't thought of it."

Ino recovered quickly as she pondered those words. She looked thoughtful before saying, "Oooh, chocolate syrup…"

Naruto gasped, "You're all perverts! That's my kid, sort of… and like, if you got involved, I'd be like… your boyfriend's parent and then…. Ew! I may as well commit suicide right now, rather than allow this to keep up!" He straightened up. "Sakura, I forbid you from dating my adopted son-like-person."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "Get over yourself. Just because you adopted them doesn't make you their parent."

"Sure it does," Naruto insisted.

"Did adopting you make your foster parents your parents?" Sakura pressed.

Naruto thought about that for a moment and then conceded. "Alright, fine. You can date him, but you better have him home by dinner time! He's got a curfew, I'm warning you now, and if you," she tuned his ranting out and Naruto's friends followed her out the door, picking up a string of conversation that seemed random. "Hey! I wasn't done naming my terms! Sakura!"

Lee patted Naruto on the back, and even Sasuke looked _half-way_ sympathetic. "Do not worry, my friend," Lee said assuredly. "Sakura-chan is just going through a phase. She will soon see that pretty boys are not as nice as they appear!" he seemed so very certain about that, Naruto didn't know if he had the heart to break Lee's. "Just like Sasuke-kun when he hurt Sakura-chan."

Naruto sulked as he said, "Terrence isn't like Sasuke, though. What you see is what you get." Lee looked absolutely crushed. Naruto felt a bit bad, but he had to say it or Lee would wait forever, and Lee deserved better than an endless life of waiting. "He doesn't have ulterior motives, he's kind, and he respects women… I guess he's perfect for her in that way. She probably needs someone like that."

Lee murmured sadly, "Terrence sounds like… like how I have strived to be."

Sasuke pointed out, "But she's also superficial, and she wants a handsome face." He shrugged carelessly, "You don't fit that bill." Sasuke lost no compassion over his bald-faced statement. He simply said the truth. Unfortunately it brought tears to Lee's eyes. Lee trudged to the door, and Naruto glared at Sasuke for being so cold.

"S-Sasuke-kun, I would thank you for your honesty… but I do not feel very grateful at the moment. Perhaps I will later…" His shoulders were slumped as he put his bandaged hands on the door.

"Come on, Lee, he didn't mean it like that," Naruto urged, kicking Sasuke's shin to prompt the guy to say something. Sasuke wasn't motivated by the hard kick, since he could feel no pain anyway. He simply glared at Naruto.

"Sasuke-kun, I would be eternally indebted to you if you would take my place as Naruto-kun's guard at the luncheon…" He left without waiting for an answer. Naruto glared at Sasuke.

"Are you _stupid_? Why would you say something like that? He really loves Sakura!"

"She doesn't love him back, and she won't ever love him back," Sasuke said, saying what Naruto had known all along but wouldn't admit. "She's shallow and looking for a pretty face. When we get back to Konoha, she'll forget Terrence and go for someone else with a pretty face. Better to crush his hopes now, when it isn't too late."

"If he doesn't kill himself first after hearing something like that!" Naruto yelled angrily before heading quickly for the door. "After hearing that the love of your life—who you spend every day _training_ and pushing yourself to the limits for—would never love you or accept you, what reason do you think you would have to live?"

Sasuke was silent. Naruto threw himself outside and called, "LEE!" He had to find his friend and assure him that the world was still on its axis. He took off running, the split toe sandals slapping against his heels in an annoying fashion. After two hours of searching the city—checking at the Dawn Shard for him as well as everywhere else he could think of—Naruto scrounged his brain for Lee's possible location.

He was walking past the Desert Sun Tea & Café shop when his stomach grumbled again. He looked at the cozy little shop almost feeling starved to death. He thought he might just grab a quick bite to eat, but then he saw the most surprising thing. Lee and Sakura were sitting together in the window seat deep in discussion about something.

His jaw dropped. Had Terrence magically transformed to look like Lee? He made his way in and over to them. The closer he came, he knew it was Lee. "Lee?" he asked, totally amazed his friend wasn't hanging from some rafter.

Sakura and Lee looked at him in surprise. "Naruto-kun!" Lee chirped.

Sakura smiled at Naruto, "Oh, Naruto, hey. Is the luncheon over already?" He paled. He had totally forgotten. Her smile turned deadly. "You _did_ go, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah…ha-ha… of course, Sakura! I went!" His stomach gurgled loudly and his cheeks flamed. "I er, didn't eat anything… wasn't that hungry anyway… but I'm hungry now…"

"Liar," Sakura groused.

He quickly changed the subject, "I thought you were going on a date with Terrence?"

"I was, but his team had a mission." She had an ironic smile on his face. "He didn't want to cancel the date, and Lee happened to be walking by, so he asked Lee to make sure I enjoyed lunch."

Lee shouted exuberantly, "Naruto-kun, I have learned that Sakura-chan has the EIR mastery!"

Naruto's most intelligent response was basically, 'Durrr.' He scrounged his mind for what EIR could mean, but came up with nothing.

"Really, Naruto," Sakura scolded him, "You should've paid attention at the academy! All of this stuff was talked about!" He thought in his defense, 'How could I? I was too busy sleeping.' He must have had an apologetic look on his face because Sakura threw him a bone. "Electronic Information Retrieval mastery."

"Oooh," Naruto said, "That explains a lot!" He was lying. He still had no clue. Sounded pretty cool though. "When did you get it?" That was a safe enough question…

"Last year."

Naruto blinked and then thought, "Wait, where'd you get the money for a mastery credit? I didn't know your family was that well off…" Mastery school tuition was no small penny. Jiraiya had spent a _lot_ on Naruto to get him in. And he spent a lot _more_ to bribe the headmasters to speed Naruto to the top of the wait list just so he could enter.

"I had a joint city mission with Gaara-san," she shrugged, "I must have impressed him or something, because he offered to pay my way so long as I be his friend. I tried to tell him he didn't have to pay for my friendship, but he was insistent." She sipped her tea cautiously and Naruto laughed and patted her on the head.

"You've been turned into Gaara's spy! I'll have to watch what you learn about me!" She didn't quite comprehend, but Naruto was sure he knew Gaara better. Gaara would draw on that. Probably soon, too. But who knows? Maybe Gaara would surprise Naruto and value a 'friendship' more than he seemed to value information.

"I have not," Sakura said. Lee didn't get it either. As usual, Lee saw face value. He heard Gaara wanted a friend and saw it as that. "Anyway, Lee and I were just discussing the value of the EIR mastery. He said he, Neiji, and Ten-Ten met at the EIR mastery school, since they all went right after graduation! Isn't that amazing?"

He snickered and gave them both a rather mockingly flowery bow. "I'll leave you to your date, which you're _obviously_ enjoying! I'd love to chat longer, but unfortunately I have an ambassador's luncheon to crash."

Sakura snorted, "If they're still there." He laughed and left quickly. When he looked through the window again from the outside, Lee and Sakura were again discussing something over their tea cups, deeply immersed in each other's words. Lee looked as smitten as ever; Sakura looked glad to have someone to connect with. Naruto thought it was a start at least…

* * *

**Don't ever try to outsmart a story. It never works! **Dark Inu Fan (I'm still debating how to have Naruto react to his sister), yumeniai (yes, she is canon in Inuyasha, but I just made her older here), supersillee06 (I tried to hint that the Shukaku story was TRUE, but it was also how Gaara's mind interpreted her 'bedtime story' into a dream), Rebel Reader Bitch (you know you make me swear), Arcander (I pray to the gods of fanfiction I never meet your sister), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Gaara expended a lot of energy just for the _one_, so I doubt he'd do it for all of them), Niklos (thanks, I tried to see what was wrong but it showed up for me... Hopefully you're still reading, if not, thanks anyway!), loki09 aka ttre208 (I'll bet you'll feel silly when you realize the HinaNaru pairing is listed up at the top of the screen), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter50 after I posted chapter 51.

ANSWER: No answers today! Maybe later!

_Paul is making me nervous, Paul is making me scared, into this room he swaggers like he's God's own messenger... (he has a review for me... do I want to know what it says?)_


	53. Making Life Interesting

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

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Chapter 53: Making Life Interesting

Naruto had rather unsurprisingly missed the luncheon so he picked up two orders of desert coyote meat from a small restaurant and headed for Kazekage tower. He didn't doubt for a second he would find Gaara there; Temari said Gaara spent most of his time in Kazekage tower to the point where he even had one of the meeting rooms remodeled into a bedroom.

On the way, he was tempted to eat the food but he did have the foresight not to try it. If he spilled or made a mess of his outfit, Sakura would kill him. She'd lectured him for over an hour the previous night on behavior required of him at the luncheon. He _could_ have told her to shove off, but then she'd get mad and he'd have to deal with an angry Sakura.

But manners—especially table manners—had been pounded into his brain by a woman he liked to think of as 'the Dragon Lady' at the Seduction-Infiltration mastery school. Naruto wasn't about to admit to having attended the S-IF mastery school (ever…_never_ ever mention it) to Sakura though so he endured the lessons. He knew she meant well, but it was particularly frustrating when she was explaining 'proper protocol' and his dumb brain kept pointing out small little things Sakura either forgot to mention or didn't know.

Truthfully, Naruto didn't know why Jiraiya felt it was so important Naruto go to the S-IF mastery school at all. He could understand going to the Sneak-Thief mastery school; Jiraiya saw how useful Naruto's transformation jutsu was turning out to be and wanted Naruto to improve on it. Naruto's improvements certainly showed in rapid strides there. The S-IF mastery school seemed less useful the more Naruto thought about his time there.

Sure, he made a few friends and built up his network a little. He grew particularly close to a Zodiac girl named Sexy. Sexy wasn't actually her real name; it was the code name she would use if she went undercover on a mission requiring her S-IF skills. For the most part, the students were discouraged from giving out their true identity. Only they and the Dragon Lady would know who they were for the duration of their stay. Naruto's code name was 'Honey'. But he and Sexy exchanged names and addresses so they could keep in contact before he left.

But other than the few friends and learning proper etiquette (the Dragon Lady even forced him to learn to dance in formal situations—oh, he loathed those lessons so much!), Naruto still couldn't picture himself ever seducing someone for information.

As he thought about the things he learned and he stopped putting so much mental focus on the seduction part of his training, he realized the majority of what he learned had nothing to do with _that_, but was really mostly about image. If he had to pretend to be a high-class prostitute (and there were male prostitutes, the Dragon Lady assured him_—not that he felt all that reassured_) he had to act the part. He had to know what fork to use in which country, or what hand to eat with, or how to sit. He had to learn how to speak like a woman, because in some countries a woman could say the same thing as a man but she would use different words.

Even if he wasn't pretending to be a prostitute to get his information, if he had to enter some place and pretend to be a citizen of that country, he had to know precisely how to act so he wouldn't blow his cover.

Maybe Jiraiya didn't send him there to learn to seduce at all, Naruto thought. Maybe Jiraiya sent him there knowing he was an orphan and he really didn't have a noble family to teach him manners (and he certainly wouldn't learn manners from Jiraiya or Kakashi) so maybe it was Jiraiya's own twisted method to giving Naruto the opportunity to learn the protocol he would need later on as Hokage?

No, that really didn't sound like the old man. Jiraiya was always too drunk to think ahead like that.

Naruto sighed as he passed the high priced street vendors and made his merry way into Kazekage tower. All that thinking was giving him a headache. It really wasn't as impressive as he thought Hokage tower was, but Naruto was biased because his favorite part of Hokage tower was the nice green lawn space and the fire pool neatly placed off to the side. Then there was the mountain and Hokage monument, and standing on top of Hokage tower, anyone could look over the whole city and just marvel at the view. The only better spot to look over the city was from his secret-yet-not-so-secret hideaway up on top of the mountain.

He'd been in Kazekage tower a few times before. This would be his first visit _this_ time in Suna, but he did know his way around the inside. He knew where to go to get to the secret library hidden inside the tower, and he knew where to find the Kazekage office. He found the former two years ago mostly out of sheer boredom. Jiraiya had disappeared into their hotel room with a few pretty young red-heads and in doing so had kicked Naruto out.

When Naruto got bored of spinning on a barstool, he took off to find something to do. That was when he came across a few drunk men whispering about a haunted library in Kazekage tower. At hearing the library was haunted, Naruto almost didn't go. He could deal with rapists, thieves, drunks, murderers, and rabid creatures of all sorts, but the _one_ thing he was most afraid of was ghosts. But then the drunk men said that within the library was rumored to be a very special map that would direct its holder to his heart's desire.

Naruto believed them and took off to find the map with all his thoughts focused intently on finding Sasuke. He'd been fairly disappointed to find out that the map wouldn't lead him to Sasuke. Instead after Naruto found it (nearly chickening out no less than six times before he even entered the library, and that wasn't counting how many times he tried to talk himself into turning back while in there) he had followed the map to the watering hole. Apparently the 'heart's desire' was a small lake in the middle of an oasis city.

So to spite the jerks who sent him on a false trail, Naruto kept the map.

Thinking back on it, he did have to laugh at himself. What did he think he would find in that library? A magic map that would lead him straight to Sasuke?

Naruto followed the stairs up to the second floor and walked up to Gaara's secretary. He knew the pretty girl from when he visited to bring the Zodiac agreement around; her name was Ruby and she was the daughter of a very prominent glass maker. When she saw him, her brown eyes lit up with a smile and she shyly pushed her hair back behind her ear with a giggle.

"Good afternoon, Naruto!" she said and then blushed rather cutely. "Oh, I do hope I'm not presumptuous to call you so familiarly! I hear you came as the ambassador for Konoha this time…" Dang, word really moved around fast, didn't it? Well, he _had_ been in town for a while now even if he hadn't made it to the tower yet.

Naruto beamed at her. "Nah! Call me whatever you want!"

She giggled again, "Can I call you my date?" Confusion swirled around in his gut. Did he just get asked out? She explained quickly, "For the social gathering tomorrow night, of course. You know, after the written exam, all the participants who passed go to the social gathering?"

He really _didn't_ know. No one ever told him there was a social gathering of any kind after the written exam. After they passed the written exam, Kakashi basically told them all to prepare themselves for the next stage of testing and to get a lot of rest, so he did. He really hoped Kakashi hadn't stunted him because of Kyuubi by taking away an opportunity…

Still, Naruto hardly missed a beat as he spewed out a lie. "Sorry, Ruby-chan. I already have a date." He knew the minute he finished talking, he was about to regret the lie because her eyes lit up with keen interest.

"Really? Whose the lucky girl?" she asked. He didn't think she knew just how on-the-spot that question put him.

"My—uh," he rummaged through his suddenly not-properly-functioning brain for a plausible excuse not to take Ruby, his cheeks becoming enflamed as he was sure he was going to soon be caught in a lie. He didn't think for a minute that Ruby was a bad person, but he also didn't want to get her hopes up by dating her.

A random thought caused him to wince: people who _weren't_ from Konoha liked him for who he was, and a few were even like Ruby who sincerely liked him.

"Sakura!" he said the name the instant it popped into his brain.

"Your Sakura, huh?" Ruby giggled. "Well, I do hope you have fun with this 'Sakura' of yours. You can let her know I'm jealous of her luck."

"Uh, yeah… sure will," Naruto felt a sinking feeling in his gut. This was all going to backfire on him, he just knew it. He changed the subject; he didn't really feel like making his stupid lie more involved than it was already. "So is Gaara around?"

"Yes, he is. I can see if he is available to see you, if you like."

Naruto grinned. "Nah! I'll just surprise him." She watched him in slight stunned silence before he balanced the two containers of food on his arm and used his good hand to open the door. He entered and closed the door behind him. Gaara turned his head to look at Naruto with a mildly bored expression on his features.

Naruto cocked his head in curiosity as he eyed the strange red-head. "What _are_ you doing?" he asked Gaara.

Gaara tipped over and fell on his back, grunting slightly. "I am attempting to do a hand stand. They are harder than I seem to recall."

"What the hell for?" Gaara didn't answer verbally, but he did send a cold glare at Naruto before he stood up and brushed himself off. "Whatever, G-man."

"Are you under the influence of illegal substances I should be made aware of?" Gaara inquired. "Because name calling will bring you closer to death than I believe you realize."

"If anyone's drugged up," Naruto retorted, "it's you. You do know it's just not like you to 'attempt a hand stand', right?"

"You were not at the luncheon." Gaara pointed out.

"I haven't been a lot of places," Naruto told Gaara with a grin as he crossed the room and sat in Gaara's desk chair. He was lucky enough to be rewarded with a death glare that probably would have scared Naruto if he _saw_ it, but Naruto's focus had turned to the food. He opened one of the containers and started to eat the meat within. It was still slightly warmed. "So whose dumb idea was it to have a 'social gathering' after the Chunin exams?" Naruto shoved food into his mouth haphazardly and chewed noisily (manners be-damned, he didn't care). "Id diff a new fing, er whud?"

"The social gathering has been a part of the Chunin exam for well over twenty years now. There is one after the written exam, and one after the physical trials." Gaara sighed and lifted himself to sit on the edge of his desk, turning his body so he could see Naruto properly. "As for your other question, I have no idea what you said."

Naruto shook his head and swallowed. "That's okay. You answered my question anyway. Here, I got you dinner." He pushed the second container toward Gaara. Gaara opened it up and shuddered slightly. "What? This stuffs good!"

"I am a vegetarian."

"You live in the middle of a desert."

"So?"

"You live… in a desert…"

"I am assuming this has a point?"

"Where do you get the vegetables?! There's barely any green life around the watering hole!"

"Imports. Most of my diet comprises of imports, especially dried fruits and vegetables." Gaara reached a hand out toward Naruto, sliding it between Naruto's chest and the desk to wiggle the middle drawer open. "Temari even keeps this drawer filled for me if I get hungry."

"Why are you a vegetarian?"

"Shukaku eats meat." Naruto thought that was the most ridiculous reason to stop eating meat he'd ever heard. It was one thing to stop eating meat because doing so meant an animal had to die, but it was a completely different thing to stop just because the demon he had to contend with liked meat.

Naruto looked at the things in the drawer. Small containers held foodstuffs like banana chips and dehydrated apple peels. Naruto gave Gaara a sneaky little smirk. "Would you eat meat if I fed it to you?"

"No." Gaara said, sliding the drawer shut again. "Why?"

Naruto took a small bite of the meat—his eyes never left Gaara's—and then grabbed Gaara by the collar (smearing greasy finger prints on Gaara's clothes in the process) and yanked him down to meet his lips. For a moment, Gaara was so startled he did nothing, and it gave Naruto the opportunity to shove the small bit into Gaara's mouth using his tongue. (Really, Naruto was _not_ gay. He did _not_ enjoy this... but maybe a little...)

Gaara tore himself away from Naruto and looked like he was about to vomit. Naruto clapped his hand over Gaara's mouth with a foxy grin on his face (he was really enjoying this too much) and said, "Chew and swallow, Gaara-kun." Gaara looked absolutely mystified, but he wasn't fighting Naruto's hold.

Finally, Gaara forced himself to chew the little bit up and swallowed it. Naruto pulled his hand away from Gaara's mouth and sat back in the seat. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?" he asked.

"Why did you do that?" Gaara asked.

Naruto smirked, "I felt like kissing you, but the meat was in the way," he lied. Gaara suddenly looked like he'd bitten into a sour lemon, so Naruto couldn't contain a laugh. "But really, it's stupid not to eat meat just because Shukaku likes it."

"My stomach is churning," Gaara said. "And it is not so simple. When Shukaku possesses me, I usually wake up again covered in the remains of an animal. It makes me sick to remember that, and I always do when I taste meat."

Naruto shrugged, "Kyuubi has done that to me too—only so far, it's been rats and mice. You should be grateful Shukaku doesn't make necklaces out of the creature's entrails and hang it round your neck for you to find when you wake."

"Kyuubi possesses you?"

Naruto nodded. His smirk disappeared as he remembered the first time Kyuubi did it. "It felt _wrong_, you know? Like I'd been violated." He met Gaara's green eyes with his blue ones again and forced a smile on his face, "But I didn't stop eating the things I like just because Kyuubi did that. And I don't think you should either. You live in the middle of a desert, Gaara. And you make it harder on everyone else by being so picky."

Gaara's expression became very blank, like he didn't really want to listen but he knew the best he could do was avoid the discussion for a later date or else deal with it now and get it over with. "And?" Gaara asked carelessly.

"And so I'm going to give you two options. Be fed by me, or feed yourself. You've already proven to me you aren't going to fight me for whatever reasons are in your head. So what's it going to be?"

For a moment, Gaara looked like he was going to lash out at Naruto… and then his entire expression shifted from angry to—surprisingly—coy. He licked his lips with a smirk planted on his face and said, "Feed me."

That was the precise moment Kankuro decided to walk into the room. His jaw dropped nearly to the floor and he squeaked, "Excuse me?" Naruto couldn't contain his laughter.

Then Gaara turned to look at his brother and said in a very serious tone of voice (his expression nothing short of humorless), "Naruto offered to feed me. I have accepted this offer."

For a moment, Kankuro's lips flapped like a fish on dry land. Then with wide eyes, he turned around and marched out of the office yelling, "BAKI! I NEED YOUR HELP!"

With his brother gone, Gaara turned back to look at the laughing blond. "You will not be able to feed me if you are laughing." Naruto was laughing so hard his sides felt they were splitting and his eyes were watering, though with the wrap on one eye he only had one tear trail. Gaara smirked. "You certainly do make things interesting, Uzumaki."

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**Don't ever try to outsmart a story. It never works! **kiirantsu (I'm glad you found the story again!), anonymous naruhinafan (impressive review! I absolutely loved it. The meeting with the clan council comes up next chapter. Please review again! ...or else. He-he...), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (I'm sure you're not the only one), Dark Inu Fan (actually, I'm thinking of making Rin think she killed her brother with her cooking the first time they meet. Ha! and Ghost-Naruto would be like, "I survived a 300 foot drop off a cliff and was killed by bad food?!"), Arcander (I'm so glad to have gotten Naruto right!), yumeniai (are you implying he might not be adorable at any other time?), supersillee06 (Kakashi gets _mentioned_ in the next chapter! Yay!), DarkRavie, queenboogie16 (Naruto finds out Hinata is a girl. A real girl! in the coming chapters.), loki09 aka ttre208 (let's hope Gaara doesn't figure out about Lee's face-value personality. Wait... this is Gaara we're talking about.), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 52 after I posted chapter 53.

ANSWER: Okay, this story was supposed to be a general canon for Naruto but I guess as usual I've been slighted by my work. When I started, I couldn't find Naruto's parents names on the wikipedia website and that's what I reference from so I made some up. I think Minato is now on the website but I'm 53 chapters in and now Naruto's dad's name actually serves a few purposes to the story. 'Neiji' is a misspelling. From here forward I'll try not to use it but please don't be saddened if I do... it's sort of a natural spelling for my fingers now and I don't notice it. I forgot Tsume was alive when I started writing so she ended up dead here and Kiba's history changed. The other stuff accidentally made it in the story--really, I mean it when I say my story never works for me. The alteration to Kyuubi's seal will be understood when you find out interesting information which cannot yet be revealed. I'm glad the things work out and don't affect the story. NaruHina is a while coming (I write monster stories if you weren't aware already). Poor Naruto... I almost feel bad about what I'm going to do. Almost.

_Wash away the thoughts inside, that keep my mind away from you (and the review you left me)._


	54. The Uzumaki Heir

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

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Chapter 54: The Uzumaki Heir

Rin was really enjoying the outside world. The Maitos were a very lovely family to stay with. Min was teaching Rin how to cook (she wanted to be able to cook for her brother and unfortunately cooking was not something she was able to learn in prison).

Rin felt the lessons were going fairly well, at least until what was supposed to be a simple soup turned slightly rancid and sent Gai into the bathroom for six hours. He didn't make a big deal of it, but afterward he gave her a hesitant thumbs-up and said, "Practice makes the difference between a youthful meal and a last meal!"

After that, Rin hadn't been so sure she still wanted to learn. She didn't want to kill her brother the first time she met him, after all… Min had convinced her to keep trying though, and Gai (despite the bad experience) was never afraid to try Rin's cooking.

Just as Rin had predicted to Mari, getting dressed was the most difficult part of Rin's day. Min had bought Rin a free-standing closet and a dresser to put her things in, and both were loaded with clothes. To make it easier on herself, she basically said 'screw it' and threw on whatever her hand touched first.

That was probably why Rin got so many queer looks as she walked down the aisle that day with a basket of groceries in her hands. Min sent her to the store with some money to pick up the ingredients for apple pie and Rin had quickly changed out of her pajamas and left the house. She changed into a navy blue pleated skirt adorned with big sunflowers and a neon green tee-shirt. Over the top of that, she'd thrown on her white apron which had pink ruffles trimming the edges and a cutesy-pie pink pocket on the right breast. She wouldn't have worn shoes at all except Min made her, so she had tan sandals on her feet that smacked against her heels constantly.

Rin's hair probably attracted attention too since she had a small chunk up in a pony tail, but the chunk of hair was really short compared to her long hair. She didn't _like_ having a short chunk of hair, but the previous winter a few guards decided she needed a 'hair cut' and shaved a spot on her head. The warden probably wouldn't have interfered except he'd been walking through with the inspection officials from the city so he couldn't ignore it.

Since then, the hair had grown out enough that she could tie it off in a pony tail (it was that or else it would simply stick out on its own and look even sillier).

Rin turned down the next aisle of the grocery store and paused to look up at the sign above. Everything Min wanted her to buy was on the grocery list. She already got most of the things Min told her to get, but she still needed to pick up a jar of cinnamon, granulated sugar and apples. The granulated sugar was easily found on a shelf at eye level, and the cinnamon wasn't too far down the aisle from that. She quickly got the items and placed them in the basket, then took off for the fruits and vegetables aisle.

Upon seeing the long row of apples, she winced. _Maybe Naruto will like me even if I can't cook for him?_ She wanted to be the perfect sister for Naruto, but it was most likely not going to be easy. She was a wreck at cooking, and Mari wouldn't let her near a sewing needle after the disaster Rin managed a few days prior. Rin didn't even want to think about that mess.

_And so what if I sewed the kerchief to the chair? It didn't hurt anything._ Except apparently the leather upholstery didn't do well with holes poked in it. But in Rin's opinion, the Inuzuka family should get new furniture anyway. Leather felt funny.

She plucked five 'good enough looking' apples from the container and set them in her basket. _Next task: the cashier._ She made a face as she headed toward the front of the store. She was ordinarily a very personable person, but as usual…

_There, right on cue!_ She thought as one of her ANBU guards appeared to watch her. She very rarely saw them, but it was these small moments like when she was paying for groceries that they would appear and just stand there with their arms folded and that stupid mask on their face.

She hated that.

Rin stepped into the line behind a man with a scar across the bridge of his nose. He looked tired and haggled and his brown eyes were half-lidded as though he wanted nothing more than a nice and very long nap. He didn't seem to register when the person in front of him finished paying, so she tapped him politely on the shoulder, holding the grocery basket in one hand.

"Sir," she said in a neutral tone of voice (she didn't want him to think she was rude, and she didn't want the ANBU to think that either), "it is your turn."

He glanced at her, blinked twice, and then shook his head as though to clear it of his thoughts. "Thank you." He said. He shuffled forward and set his basket on the counter. The cashier rang up the sale and the man paid and headed for the door, brushing past the ANBU. Next it was Rin's turn. She paid and the ANBU left with her.

As soon as they were outside again, the ANBU disappeared from her sight, though she knew he was somewhere around. Him _and_ his buddy.

Was it possible to hate someone she really didn't even know? They were just doing their job, but couldn't they do their job on someone else and just pretend it was her? She wasn't dangerous.

She carried the groceries the couple of blocks to the Maito residence. If the ANBU were going to be around all the time anyway, why couldn't they make themselves useful and help her with the groceries? Stupid ANBU. Rin attempted to knock on the front door—etiquette demanded proper protocol be followed, Orooon would say—but Min was already there to throw open the door with a child attached to her breast as if for all the world it was natural to answer the door like that. It was actually a little disturbing.

"Rin, come in, come in! Oh, wonderful, you got the groceries!" Well, it _was_ the reason Rin left the house. "Just bring them in the kitchen, dear. I'll take care of them. Oh! And the mail came! You have mail, dear. I put it on Lee-kun's desk for you."

Rin thanked her odd hostess and took the groceries into the kitchen. She set them on the counter and immediately headed for Lee's room. Even though Lee wasn't there and she was curious about him, Rin had decided against snooping through his things to learn more. If he was as meticulous as Rin thought he must be (all those dropped robot hints Min made simply stuck in her head) then he probably memorized exactly where everything was positioned and could probably tell if someone had snooped.

The only things she'd done anything with was picking up the clothing around the hamper and throwing them inside it, putting the pencils and pens on the desk back in their proper cup holder, and throwing away the contents of an overflowing paper waste basket. Yes, she snooped through those and found Lee was madly in love with a girl named 'Sakura Haruno', but he was also in desperate need of poetic assistance because his love letters were absolutely wretched.

For example, one of Rin's favorites out of all of Lee's attempts read:_ My Dearest Sakura Haruno, your eyes are like the weeds that grow in the youthful time of spring. Your hair is like the pink tail of an energetic baby pig framing your considerable forehead. Your calloused hands are like rough bark on a tree. Your ire bends air and stone crumbles at your feet. I would be greatly honored to take you to dinner tonight. If tonight will not work for you, I am free tomorrow night, or I can find you, perhaps? Most lovingly yours, Rock Lee._

Reading it never failed to make Rin giggle and she'd secretly kept it instead of throwing it away with the others. When she met Lee, she was simply going to have to sit him down and give him a bit of poetic assistance, because anyone who read his love-note would likely thing more along the lines of: _Sakura, your eyes are like weeds: seeing them makes me want to pluck them out and throw them away. _Because that was what anyone would do with weeds: pluck them. Next:_ Your hair is like the rear-end of a pig, and your forehead is huge._ Because where was the tail but on the rear? Next: _Your hands are unnaturally rough._ No girl wanted to be told that! Next: _You are violent and temperamental._ A good rule-of-thumb (as Kakashi always said) is never to mention tempers to an easily angered person. And lastly: _I am a stalker with an obsession, and you cannot hide from me._

One might wonder how Rin came up with that off-the-wall definition of what he'd written, but she was very much an outsider. She didn't know Sakura and she didn't know Lee. All she knew was that as she read it, those were her thoughts. But she _didn't_ get the feeling that he was so freakishly obsessed with this girl that he might harm her or otherwise do something wrong. His letters were simply worded _very badly_.

Rin thought it might be partially Gai's fault for Lee's incredibly short romance capabilities, because Gai seemed to think he could charm a woman by doing five hundred laps around Konohagakure on his hands and coming back dripping in sweat and smelling incredibly raunchy. It wasn't that Rin thought Gai was at all bad or stupid… he just needed to shower after all that training.

Rin looked at the letters on the desk. She had two of them. She hadn't been expecting a letter from anyone. She only knew one person, and Kakashi was a lazy bum. Still, surprisingly enough one of the letters was from Kakashi. The other was from—surprise of even more surprises—Lee. She tore open Lee's first, curious what he had to say.

"Dear Miss Rin Elia Uzumaki," Lee wrote, and Rin had to pause and stare at the name for a very long moment. Not even _she_ had known what her middle name was, so how could Lee? She was _sure_ Kakashi knew what it was because he claimed to have her birth certificate stored away, but he'd never told her and it was only on her release from prison that she started informing people of her surname. Lee was already gone by the time she got out…

How did he know?

Rin sat down at the desk and glanced around the room at Lee's things, all neat and tidy just as he'd left it. She supposed a better question was 'how could he not know'? Or more accurately, how could he not have the means to find out? In her head, the pieces were quickly fitting in place.

He wasn't just another orphan like Gai had said he'd taken him in. No, Lee wasn't even 'Lee' at all. A smile crossed her face. What would Riba say to her if he knew she got a letter from the legendary figure himself?

She kept reading. He was writing to introduce himself to her and to mostly welcome her back into society. He said if she ever needed help with anything, she could just ask him and if he was capable of it, he would definitely help her. The last part of the letter startled her more, however, because he mentioned Riba and the others.

"If you should feel up to visiting Riba, Orooon, Dalmik, Huuo'ven, and Gyimon, please give them my very best regards. I am very grateful to them for their positive behavior in regards to their captivity. I am working diligently toward finding a way to return them to their home, but though this task should be simple it is unfortunate that I should have a very difficult time with it. I have not lost heart though, and I expect very soon I will find a way to the cities in the sky and they will at last be able to go home. Most sincerely, Rock Lee."

The best that Rin could conclude is that Lee _expected_ she could figure out who he had to be. It was the only explanation to why he would so boldly talk about Riba and the others, and their home in a world among the stars.

She shook her head to clear it of the resulting confusion left by Lee's letter. If Lee was who she thought he was, then why would he have difficulty _at all_ reaching Riba's home world? Arzyle Arminiean was supposed to be born with vast stores of knowledge, so why couldn't he just do it? Unless it had to do with the Haoou ju auooji, which was "to summon a creature". When the Goddesses cursed the abandoning Arthlezenithites, was it possible they made sure Arzyle couldn't contact them or be contacted by them? Did they fear Arzyle might be influenced by them somehow if he was?

Rin set aside Lee's letter with a frown. It was almost too much confusion already.

She picked up Kakashi's letter and opened it. Instantly she could forget the Lee-Arzyle confusion, because Kakashi was a jerk again. He had been in town, he had seen her, and he hadn't even bothered to say hello. As usual, it was excuses about black cats and broken mirrors that kept him away.

She scowled. When she saw him next—whenever that happened to be—she was going to strangle him with her bare hands. Or at least she would try to. He'd probably just laugh at her and hug her and of course she'd stop feeling so upset. If Rin weren't absolutely sure Kakashi was gay (he _never_ mentioned any girl interests, so she assumed he had to be) she might think there was something between them… _but_ she was sure he was gay.

"A thousand apologies for being unable to see you, but unfortunately I happened upon a black cat sitting on the door step." Rin glared at the date he'd written the letter. Three days ago! He could've seen her. He was such a jerk. "And of course I did try to pass the black cat, but unfortunately a passing merchant dropped a mirror. I feared to stay; I would not want the deadly misfortune to stick to me so I had to leave. I am sure you understand?"

Oh sure, she understood. She understood that Kakashi was a coward.

"I don't have much time to write a very long letter," Kakashi wrote next as the letter's mood changed abruptly. "I am supposed to be in Suna right now, and I really need to get going soon or I'll get caught in the flash flooding in West Sands. However, before I can leave I need to explain something to you. I was going to introduce this to your brother on his sixteenth birthday, but after quite a bit of thought I feel it would be better if you did this instead."

Did what? Kakashi couldn't possibly be more vague, could he?

"I have spoken to the Clan Council. Sunday evening at five o'clock they will convene in the Clan Hall. Gai will take you there. Dress in whatever you have that is your very best clothing and present the letter I have here to the clansmen. It will introduce you to them as an Uzumaki. I am sure you have questions as to why you must meet with them."

Of course she had questions! Why wouldn't she? She didn't know much about the Clan Council, but if it was anything like the Elder Council all it would be is a bunch of stuffy old geezers in finery who needed to pull the corks out of their rears. She didn't really feel like seeing anyone like that. A brief glance at the clock told her she had less than an hour until five. Gai hadn't come for her, and it was already Sunday… How long did it take to get to the Clan Hall? Shouldn't she have been early?

"For nearly forty years, the seat reserved for the Uzumaki clan has remained empty on the Clan Council. The council attempted to get your father to take the seat, but made the mistake of asking at the wrong time and your father said 'no' and stubbornly refused to change his mind. With his refusal, the Elder Council intervened and placed what was to be a temporary substitute in for your father. They claimed the substitute would immediately step down if an Uzumaki heir stepped forward to take the seat but they knew how unlikely it was for your father to inform his children of their nobility after his obstinate refusal."

Rin paused to digest that information. Everyone always spoke very highly of her father almost as if her father was god-like in his descriptions. However, what Kakashi wrote seemed to put humanity back in him. She liked to think of herself as very sensible most of the time. Sure she got angry inside more often than not, but she kept her irritation internalized and usually did her best not to show it or lash out. By doing this, she was able to step back for a moment and think about what she just read in a speculating, sensible light.

She thought, "Daddy's stubbornness seems not only to ride the line of stupidity, but cross it as well." If her father refused to take responsibility and his duty to his clan in hand, then she definitely felt her analysis was accurate. However, sensibility told her there could be extenuating circumstances which caused her father to refuse and unless she found out what those reasons or circumstances might have been, she didn't think she had the right to condemn her father for his decision. Since her father was dead, the likelihood of her finding out why he refused was probably slim.

Kakashi's letter continued with, "With this substitute still in place, the Clan Council is being influenced by the Elder Council and it has caused many problems for both the major and the minor clans of Konoha. Included within the letter of introduction provided, I have given a list of several minor clans who will support you as you take the seat on the Council. My clan and that of my half-sister will support you, as will the Maito clan, and I have raised the support of the major clans Nara and Akimichi. With these clans backing you, I can assure you several others will follow."

She wondered what sort of problems were being cause by just one person on the Clan Council and found herself even more curious how just one seat could cause so much influence. Then again, she didn't really know how the Clan Council worked or ran so for all she knew it could be a dictatorship.

"The Council will want you to take your place to remove the substitute so don't be surprised when it doesn't take very long at all for them to approve you. There are ten seats on the Council who actually make decisions, though you will see over one hundred people there. This is because the minor clan leaders—or those chosen to represent the leaders like I will be sending—like Hatake, Shen, and Maito will all be there. They are a part of the Council, but they don't have much say in the decisions made. Nine of the ten seats are reserved for the founding clans of Konoha. That is where your seat comes from. The Uzumaki clan was one of the original ten founding clans of Konoha, and the tenth seat is reserved for the Uchiha heir if he ever stops being a stuck up bastard."

Rin was very excited to learn more about her history. She'd always known Kakashi knew more than he was telling her, but he always told her 'in time' she would know more.

"Ordinarily, the heir of the clan is the first born. However, you and Naruto are twins so the acceptable rule of thumb is to decide which twin is more suited to the duties involved in the Council and make that twin the heir. I don't think Naruto is incapable of taking over. He has continued to surprise me at many turns; I have learned my lesson not to underestimate what he his capable of. However, he does dream of becoming Hokage one day and I believe he has a very good chance of achieving his goal at which time he would have to relinquish his clan duties to you anyway."

She smiled. She had an awesome brother. She couldn't wait to meet him!

"Before the Council approves you, and they will, they will ask you what your demands are for taking the seat. Minor clans who become a part of the Konoha Clan Council generally receive enough land for a small subdivision on which they will usually build an apartment or townhouse complex and a five thousand dollars incentive bonus. Major clans who become a part of the Council generally receive a district of their own to develop as they will and an incentive bonus of about thirty thousand dollars. The Uzumaki clan is a minor clan, but there is a catch here because you are a founding clan."

Rin frowned. It sounded more complicated than one letter could explain. If she went in there in—she glanced at the clock—forty minutes (she really ought to be getting ready) would she know enough about this?

"Because you are a founding clan, even if there is only you and your brother, you are entitled to receiving similarly to a major clan. The Council will undoubtedly play the 'minor clan' card right away in hopes that you will take the offering and no more. None of these people will know you as 'Kyuubi's Girl', but they will know your brother. His reputation precedes both of you."

What kind of reputation? Was it a bad one? If they were going to try to keep her from her rights because of it, then probably yes a bad one.

"When they make their offer, don't accuse them of trying to cheat you even though they are. You don't want to embarrass these people. They get nasty tempers and you would make many enemies you don't want. Instead, draw the offer out like you are contemplating it but you aren't sure if it's enough. It doesn't matter if you won't need an entire district. You can always rent property out, but this is a matter of power. If you come in at a high price it will only benefit you down the road. If you come in at a low price, they will walk all over you. No one is going to speak for you, even though they'll know you're being cheated. Even being backed by clans, no one is going to pipe up and point out you have a right to more because they won't want to make enemies. Consider this a test to handle on your own."

She wasn't sure she could do it, but Kakashi seemed confident enough.

"When the deal is done, you will be asked to attend meetings and conferences and social gatherings. Keep a cool head and try not to fidget. They serve water at conferences and meetings. Drink as much as you can during those. At social gatherings they serve alcoholic beverages; I recommend accepting a glass of champagne but not drinking it. You may feel silly holding a glass of something you aren't drinking, but you will look unsociable without one. Meet with people at the gatherings and talk to them. Be especially careful what you say, and be very considerate to the minor clansmen. You are the only minor clan on the Council who has a position of power, so they are going to hope you will be the liaison between the decision makers and themselves."

Rin suddenly felt as if she knew why her father stubbornly refused to take the seat. She didn't even know all the position entailed yet and already she felt overwhelmed by it. Still, Kakashi was confident she could do it, and Orooon had taught her everything he knew about proper etiquette so she should be alright… right? Unless demon court etiquette differed from the human court…

"As I said, get yourself dressed in your finest clothes, have Min do your hair and makeup, and don't let them screw you over but also don't embarrass them. Keep a watchful eye about you. These are shinobi and kunoichi, and I will not be there to protect you. I have every confidence you will do just fine without it, but I wish you luck anyway. As always, Kakashi Hatake."

Rin set the letter down on the desk and glanced at the standing closet. What she wouldn't give for a pot of dirt to sink her hands into at the moment… but she didn't have time. Gai knocked on Lee's bedroom door and said, "Rin-chan, we must proceed with the greatest speed of the springtime of youth!"

She still didn't understand half of the things Gai said, but with a glance at her clock she saw it was twenty minutes to five o'clock. She had to hurry. She called out to Gai, "Will you please request Min to come here?"

"Of course!" Gai said and moments later there was another knock.

"Rin-chan, dear? May I enter?" Min called.

Rin nodded before feeling silly. Min couldn't hear her head rattle. "Yes, please do." Rin said. Min came in and saw Rin was still dressed in the clothes she wore to the grocery store.

"We'd best get to work!" Min exclaimed.

xXx

Rin's head hurt by the time Min finished with it. She was wearing the formal orange and violet gown Min had purchased for her, her hair was piled up on top of her head with enough hair tonic to ensure it was sturdy enough to break a battering ram if she chose to. She was late already.

"Thank you, Min," Rin told the woman. She glanced at herself in the full-length mirror on the closet door. It was suitable, she supposed. Her hair was up in a twisted hairstyle, the gown looked fabulous, and the light sprinkling of make-up wasn't terribly overdone like she had seen some people wear.

And she was late. Kakashi probably did this on purpose.

"You look lovely, dear. Now you really should be going." She wrapped a violet shawl around Rin's shoulders and handed Rin a pair of similarly colored silk gloves. "Wear these. Where did you put the shoes we purchased to match this outfit, dear?"

Rin nodded to her standing closet and Min fetched them out. "I really appreciate how kind you've been, Min."

"Don't go getting all sappy now, dear. If you start to cry, your make up will run, which is what you should be doing right now." Rin took the shoes with a nod and headed for the front door. She put her shoes on there, then the gloves, and as she stood back up she nearly twisted her ankle.

I hate shoes, she thought fervently. She had gone her whole life without them. Now, suddenly she was thrown into the real world and she had to start wearing shoes. Oh, but according to Min and Mari, she couldn't just wear one pair. No, every skirt and blouse and pair of pants had to have a new pair of shoes!

Gai was waiting for her. How come he doesn't have to dress up? She could only wonder. Of course, he slept in pajamas similar to his body suit so a small part of her thought the cloth might be stapled to him.

"It will be a youthful stroll to the Clan Hall!" Gai insisted, but she opposed. More like a torture session, she was thinking even before she got out of the door. She had to hang onto Gai's arm for dear life as she stepped down a total of one step. Her feet screamed at her by the time they walked to the Clan Hall, which wasn't much farther than the grocery store from Gai's house.

They arrived at six PM, and Gai led her inside. They took a seat at the back of the hall. Some people around them looked curiously at her, but mostly they turned back to the proceedings. They were talking about weaponry prices and an order that would cause all weaponry vendors from the clans to match their prices to be the same.

As they talked, Rin looked up at the high table. She saw why she should dress up. Everyone except for Gai had dressed up, which convinced her the body suit was stapled on him. A lot of the people she saw were men from the people at the high table and down through the crowd.

At the high table, she could swear one of the guys had something crawling on him, and another guy had veins protruding from his face like crows feet. A third guy leaned casually on his hand as if totally disinterested in the proceedings. A tough looking woman sat bottle feeding a puppy. And down the line were two people who didn't wear the metal plate signifying a shinobi. One of them had to be the substitute Kakashi spoke of, but who was the other? Kakashi said they would all be shinobi, so why were those two unmarked?

Gai whispered in a surprisingly quite voice, "From left to right are Clan Akimichi, Clan Yamanaka, Clan Inuzuka, Clan Nara, Clan Aburame, Clan Hyuuga, Clan Ryu, Clan Weis, and then the stand-in for Clan Uzumaki, and the stand-in for Clan Uchiha."

It was almost as if he'd read her mind.

Gai added, "The Council convenes every Sunday like this, but if they return your seat to you, you will meet with them most likely on a daily basis. Right now they're ruling on an issue that has been brought up many times at council before. The stand-ins prevent this issue from being dropped, but it is a widely accepted method for a clan to decide how he wants to price his products and who he wants to sell to. The stand-ins want that to change."

Rin nodded her understanding. If someone was callous to a shop-keeper then why couldn't that shop-keeper refuse to do business with that person? But then again, what if the shop-keeper was refusing to do business for a ridiculous reason? And how could a person gauge what the real reason was? And if they did allow the shop-keeper to pick and choose but only if the customer was offensive, then what was to say the shop-keeper didn't claim to be offended even if he wasn't but he just didn't like the customer?

The Council voted on the issue and decided eight-to-two majority ruling that the pricing and sales would remain at the discretion of the clan.

Gai whispered, "When they ask if there is any other business the minorities would like to bring up, which is us, that is when you must stand and walk up to that podium. You hand your letter of introduction to that kunoichi there, and wait for them to ask you to introduce yourself."

Rin nodded again. The next thing the council brought up was an order to develop a park into a retail facility. This order really offended Rin, especially since it was the Uzumaki substitute that brought it up. She wanted to get up and shout 'no', but her sensible half kept her seated and her face pleasant even if she was internally seething. The matter was 'tabled' for the next meeting when the vote came up five-to-five. If she got the seat, she was going to make damn sure that matter was finalized as a 'no, never ever!'

Finally the one Gai had said was Clan Hyuuga called out, "We will now have an open session." Gai was nudging her arm so she grasped the letter of introduction in her fingers and prepared to make the grueling walk up to the podium. She just hoped she didn't fall on her rear on the way. "Any other issues must be directed to the podium."

Rin waited just a moment to see if anyone else would go up there before her. When Clan Hyuuga called again, "Any issues?" she stood up. The eyes of the Clansmen turned to her as her skirts rustled and her heels clicked on the ground. She held her head high and miraculously managed not to trip over herself in shoes she barely could walk in. She stepped up onto the platform. Clan Hyuuga said, "This is not a public meeting. This is for clans only."

She straightened her back and firmed her resolve. Kakashi was right to choose her, she told herself. She could do this. It was just as well that she looked confident, because even 'firming her resolve' wasn't helping much. "I have a letter of introduction," she said, holding up the letter.

With a nod from Clan Hyuuga, a young kunoichi walked over to Rin and held out her hand. Rin handed the girl the letter and she took it back to Clan Hyuuga, who took a few brief moments to read whatever it was Kakashi had to say to him. Then, with a raised brow, he passed the letter to his neighbor, who read it and passed it to his neighbor, and then the letter made its way back down the line to Clan Hyuuga's other side…

And when it landed in front of the substitute for the Uzumaki clan, the man turned purple. "LIES!" he shouted. "ALL LIES!"

* * *

**Don't ever try to outsmart a story. It never works! **MIMI (This story is about many characters, developing them and their relationships. I'm glad you are enjoying it), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Gaara's bi. Temari knows it), anonymous naruhinafan (Naruto isn't the only Uzumaki in my story, and Sasori gets eaten in coming chapters. As for your guesses, no, its possible but there are other contenders for his hand, yes, yes), supersillee06 (I want to write a SasuNaru story and I really really want to write a SasuSakuNaru...still working on that though), queenboogie16, Arcander (Naruto solemnly swears he is not gay), DarkRavie, and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 53 after I posted chapter 54.

ANSWER: **Lee's letter** was not originally intended to be in the story. Please pay additional attention to it.

_If you see us at the computer you'll be acting real nice, if you see us posting a chapter you'll be reading all night (and then reviewing)._


	55. Busy as a Bee

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 55: Busy as a Bee

Naruto grinned. He'd just arrived 'home' from a really nice afternoon with Gaara. After feeding Gaara (he used his hands, which disappointed Temari when she arrived on the scene, though it actually caused Gaara to fall off the desk laughing—that was _so_ worth being around for) he and Gaara had gone for a companionable and leisurely stroll around Suna. Temari had told them, "If you want to disappear for a few hours, you can!"

Naruto had never laughed harder in his life than at that point. Gaara looked annoyed at his sister and insisted he wasn't attracted to Naruto 'in that way'. His denial only made him sound guiltier of the charges. But it was fun either way, and Naruto knew Gaara had a great time hanging out with him too.

"Hello!" he called out to the large, seemingly empty house. He didn't get any response so he headed for the living room. Terrence was snoozing on a ragged brown couch… or he seemed to be. The moment Naruto entered the room however, he opened his eyes and peered blearily at Naruto.

"Hey, Nana. How was your speech?" Terrence asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Naruto scratched his head. "Okay, I guess. How was your mission?"

Terrence shrugged unimportantly. "What mission?"

Naruto's jaw dropped. "The one you ditched Sakura for?" he reminded the boy.

Terrence looked Naruto straight on before standing up and smirking. "_What_ mission?" he repeated.

Naruto tried to understand what he was hearing, and then it hit him. "You bastard! You lied to Sakura!"

"I doubt that's the worst she's endured." Terrence said easily. Naruto wanted to slug the red-head, but Terrence began explaining even without Naruto asking. "I'm gay, Nana. I have no real interest in Miss Haruno."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU DATING HER?" Naruto snapped irritably.

Terrence said, "Because Lee-san needs a little bit of help to be seen by Miss Haruno. I'm merely putting him in her way. I haven't even been assigned to a team yet."

Naruto was going to punch Terrence. He would have if his reason had been any different. It was hard to be angry with Terrence when Terrence was only trying to help Lee out a bit. However, at the same time the red-head might hurt Sakura and Naruto didn't want that to happen…

"I'll be upstairs," Naruto said bitterly. He went upstairs and slammed the door on his office. He was frustrated because he was both mad and at the same time he was glad Terrence was doing whatever it was his plan consisted of. Lee had been so happy to eat lunch with Sakura earlier.

"Great, my day was so good until now!" Naruto complained and leaned against the door. He didn't know where the rest of the kids were, but he hadn't seen or heard a hint of them. And Naruto had told Sasuke and Lee that Terrence was honorable and good and… and now he found out that he was wrong.

Not only was he wrong, but his adopted-son-like-person was _gay!_ Geez, how did he handle that one? Well, he supposed he could just recall all the times he kissed Sasuke and the brief kiss he gave Gaara earlier and say 'like father like son'…

"Damn it, I made him gay," he groaned. "Sakura is going to be so mad at me."

He glanced around the messy office. Two weeks working in it and it still didn't look any better than when he started. Thousands of orphans had gone through the orphanage. It made him so angry every time he opened one of the many haphazardly stacked files and saw the words 'deceased' stamped in bold red over the name of the child, which was more often than not.

He hadn't even had a chance to talk to Kagome yet and see how she was doing after the whole inky-blobby fiasco because he'd been so busy. He hadn't gotten the chance on Vvim's birthday, and hadn't seen her since then either. It wasn't that he didn't have the desire to find out how she was doing, it was just that he was kept busy with the kids and attempting to go through the paperwork in the orphanage… all those small 'that's life' type things kept him running everywhere except where he wanted to go.

Naruto finally was beginning to see what Tsunade was talking about when she said, 'If you cannot accept responsibility for one charge, then what makes you think you could accept responsibility for what everyone in the village does? That's my job—the job you want so bad.' He had to accept that he had other responsibilities, and he had to take care of those before he could go off to find Kagome.

He hadn't forgotten about her ability to make creatures appear out of nowhere—how could he? He had one sealed inside him!—but his hand was broken and he had unhealed wounds on his torso that hindered him from most physical labor. Training was a literal impossibility for him at the moment, and she hadn't given him any sign that she might train him.

Getting up, he moved over toward the desk and sat in the old chair before picking up his father's journey log. He'd brought it in several days earlier but every time he sat down to read it, _something_ came up that interrupted him. He supposed it was natural that it would happen: he had a lot of little kids running around and there was always someone scraping a knee or bumping an elbow. He didn't mind them playing in the house and he never discouraged them from asking him to play with them. If they asked, he would play until Terrence got mad and made him go back to work.

Between helping Mesa Theroux with cooking (the woman was determined to make him cook something other than instant ramen but he really was hopeless), etiquette lessons with Sakura over the past two weeks, cleaning up the office which seemed to get only messier, taking care of the kids and playing with them (they had fun going grocery shopping together even if the market wasn't very big), and even more etiquette lessons and lectures from Sakura on how to be a proper Ambassador, he was always so exhausted he fell asleep right when his head hit the pillow.

Now, though, he thought he had a minute to read so he opened the book up and flipped through until he found the entry he'd left off on. He began reading.

_January 13. Mom's dead. Last year, I guess she fell to the weather or something. Hokage-sama was rather vague about it and no one wants to talk about it either. I wish I hadn't gone. I went to mom's grave. She was buried with the Felwin clan instead of the Uzumaki's, where dad was buried. I guess there was a big dispute about it as mom was dying, or so Huro tells me. Mom was on her death bed, telling Grandma Felwin that she wanted to be buried with dad, but in the end, I guess a dead person can't argue. I put a lily on mom's grave. They were her favorite. Maybe it will freeze instead of wither?_

So his grandmother was dead. If he had any secret delusions that his grandmother might be alive, those were successfully crushed. Whoever his great-grandmother was, she was probably dead too considering any grandmother of his father would have to be ancient by now…

_January 17. I went to Hokage-sama this afternoon and told him in no uncertain terms that I would be putting mom by dad. Hokage-sama didn't argue with me, but the Felwins' did. Grandma Felwin threatened to have a stroke, but I told her I didn't care since she always hated me anyway. _

Great-grandmother Felwin sounded like a real nag, Naruto thought. He wondered who the Felwin's were, and wondered if maybe he might have any other relatives somewhere. Or maybe his grandmother and grandfather on his mother's side of the family were still alive? But then why wouldn't they take him in if they were alive still? Surely his own family wouldn't have shunned him because of the Kyuubi, right?

And then he had a rather curious thought. The glass industry in Suna was owned by the Felwin clan. Was his grandmother a part of that Felwin family? He'd probably never know since his grandmother was dead and so were his parents. Aside from that, there were Felwin's basically everywhere in Suna. Half of the population seemed to have the surname Felwin, and six of his kids were Felwins prior to his adopting them and renaming them 'Reiss'.

He still couldn't help but be just a little excited. He might have family. Real blood related family! And that family might be Gaara. And of course then he deflated as he recalled the fact that he kissed Gaara.

"Probably best if I'm not related to them…" Naruto shuddered slightly. Maybe he was a little bit gay (only a little bit), but he wasn't incest, and if he found out he was related to Gaara he wasn't so sure he could ever face the guy again.

Screaming interrupted his reading time; he got up to go investigate. Sure, he did hire Mesa Theroux to be a care-taker for the kids and he could probably just ignore it and keep reading, but what if it was serious? What if someone broke in? _Yeah, what if someone broke into a house filled with shinobi and kunoichi,_ Kyuubi mimicked him, laughing. _They'd get their ass handed to them—or they should, if you're doing your job right. _

Naruto scowled. "You again!"

He could feel Kyuubi's humor. _You really should be used to me by now._

"What do you mean 'my job', jerk-face? I'm doing the best I know how!" Naruto said as he set his father's precious journey log carefully on his desk. "And I didn't even get prior training in this parenting crap, and I don't have anybody to model after!" He got up and made his way across the room.

_You don't have to be a father to teach them what you know. I'm not talking parenting, I'm talking self-defense training. You've a house filled with miniature soldiers. Are you teaching them what you know to help your kids stay safe from predators at home or in the field?_

Naruto finally understood, and Kyuubi disappeared, leaving Naruto feeling rather overwhelmed with his responsibilities at the moment. He had seventeen kids. Kyuubi was right to point it out, but when would he ever find time to train them? His three Genin girls were taking the Chunin exam along with two of the Genin boys. And what would he teach them?

He almost slapped himself on the forehead, feeling very silly. Obviously he would just teach them his 'Uzumaki Style: Ninja Techniques of Greatness'. He scratched his chin with a smile forming as he headed downstairs to check on the screamers. Pretty soon, the whole village would have to accept him because he even had his own fighting style, like the Hyuuga 'Gentle Fist' style. Only Naruto just knew his was _way_ better.

_I wouldn't call it 'better'_, Kyuubi snorted. _I would call it an accumulation of random, mostly useless techniques you happened to pick up in various countries._

"I thought you were gone!" Naruto growled. "Go take a nap or something!" For the second time, Kyuubi disappeared from his conscience.

"NANA!" Frankie screamed. The fourteen year old dashed over to him and gripped his arm, tugging him toward the living room. He could've sworn his eardrum popped. War cries were softer than Frankie sometimes. "TERRENCE IS MAKING OUT WITH SOME FREAK OF NATURE!"

…Now _this_, Naruto just had to see. He moved faster and entered the living room, but all he saw was Terrence sitting on the couch with a silver haired, very recognizable Genin from Mist country. Naruto scowled.

"Cleo, you're not welcome in my house!" he said with complete seriousness in his voice.

Cleo turned silver eyes on Naruto and licked his lips. Atop his head he had bunny-rabbit ears that stuck straight up, giving him another foot on his already six-foot height. He winked playfully at Naruto. "Aw, you don't mean that, lover." He said.

"Gay ass," Naruto grumbled, but he looked at Frankie. Somehow, he didn't know why he was surprised. There was a reason why Terrence and Cleo were sitting so close together, and why Cleo's long-fingered hand was running along Terrence's leg in a circle-massaging pattern.

"Which you can have _any_ time, day or night." Cleo responded. Terrence didn't even twitch. He was reading a technical manual; Cleo was watching whatever show the little ones had on. The five-year-old triplet boys didn't even seem to notice Cleo was talking dirty. They were engrossed in whatever purple bouncy things were entertaining them, sitting so close to one of the televisions it was a wonder they could see all that was going on in the show much less in the room.

"Watch your mouth," Naruto said. "Frankie, he is a freak of nature, but don't worry about him."

Frankie looked at her oldest brother in disgust. "I'm telling Sakura!"

"No you won't," Terrence said.

Frankie insisted, "Yes I will!"

"If you do, I'll bury Sam where you won't find her." Terrence threatened. Naruto groaned. Gay-Terrence was way different than he'd explained to Sasuke and Lee.

Naruto said, "Frankie, leave Terrence alone and let him be the loser and tell Sakura. I don't want you getting involved. Terrence, leave the doll out of it!" Naruto glared at Cleo. "You see what sort of mess you make when you come into my life?"

"But you still love me," Cleo told him, smirking.

Naruto hated Cleo. He'd only known Cleo for a few months, and sure, Cleo was a loyal friend, but really… he hated Cleo. Their first meeting was when Cleo _kidnapped_ him and forced him to sing for his stupid band. And not only did he have to sing for his stupid band, but Cleo had an obsession with leather and silk, and he was always trying to get Naruto into them.

And he was gay, and a bigger pervert than anyone Naruto had ever met. He always had to be touching some part of his current lover, public or not. Not that Naruto was ever Cleo's lover… that would've given Cleo ideas.

Still… he was a good enough guy. He was originally from Golgawood, but he served in Hidden Mist as a shinobi. He'd been on a training expedition like Naruto when they first met in Sound Country, although Cleo was there with his Jounin leader and his two Genin teammates.

Naruto still wasn't entirely certain why Cleo even had a band to begin with. Cleo was a shinobi for Mist country, and after his contract term ended, he had plans to go back to Golgawood and become a Scrye—a "wind listener" for his tribe. But for some reason, Cleo had formed a band and needed a lead singer so he kidnapped Naruto for the job when Jiraiya had left Naruto alone to go play with some hookers.

"How long have you been in town?" Naruto asked.

"Couple of hours," Cleo replied. "Not long, but long enough to sit through the old buzzard's lengthy and ungodly boring speech about cultural differences." Naruto couldn't resist giving Cleo a once-over; he really was incredible looking… for a man. His platinum strands fell around his gold-skinned face in disarray that suggested 'bedside activities', hanging down to his chin.

Like most of his people, Cleo had regal cheekbones and a narrow nose. His lips were peach and plump and his body was garbed from top to bottom in gold colored silk. The rabbit ears on his head were very real. They were there in addition to ordinary human ears and he could use them just the same. Cleo laughed, attracting Naruto's eyes back to his. Wagging his eyebrows, he asked, "Change your mind about my previous offer, have you?"

Naruto flushed. "Fuck off."

"Or you could do it for me," Cleo giggled. "I wouldn't mind."

Terrence said, "Nana, I'm going to be pissed off if you steal my boyfriend."

Cleo giggled again, "Ooh, I like it when they get bitchy. If you two want to fight naked, I'll watch!"

Naruto snapped, "What makes you even think I'd want to steal him?"

Terrence replied easily with, "Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'All the best looking men are gay,' Nana?"

"Well, it's wrong," Naruto growled, "I'm not gay and I'm pretty damn sexy!"

Cleo's eyes twinkled with mischief and mirth. "No, lover, you're not gay. You're bi." He sounded so certain as he said that, Naruto felt a little perturbed. Not to mention his stupid brain kept bringing up the S-IF mastery school and Sasuke and Gaara…

Frankie gasped. Naruto turned around and led the traumatized girl out of the room. "Don't let him get to you," Naruto told her.

"He's disgusting! And Terry's a freak! He has a boyfriend! Ew!" Frankie dashed off, probably to find Jaq or Carin and spill the news. Naruto groaned as he remembered he still had to find Sakura and beg her to be his date to the social gathering now that he was stupid enough to say he was going with her. And Sakura was going to be mad at him 'cause her supposed boyfriend was actually gay and playing her to set her up with Lee…

He could say it wasn't his fault, but in the end he knew he was to blame. Monkey see, monkey do, right?

But he couldn't help wondering when, where, and how Terrence had met Cleo. It was never mentioned in any of the letters. Urg, he was getting a headache.

Screaming interrupted his thinking. He jogged through the house to find the screamer.

xXx

When the letter from Kakashi landed in front of the substitute for the Uzumaki clan, the man turned purple. "LIES!" he shouted. "ALL LIES!"

Murmurs spread like a wildfire through the crowd of gathered clansmen. Rin couldn't help but wonder what exactly Kakashi had said that would get the chubby cheeked substitute to stand up and yell like that. She didn't allow her confusion to display on her features. She kept her smile bright and pretended she had no clue what to make of things.

People were wondering who she was. The clan head Gai had called 'Clan Nara' had sat up and finally taken an interest in things; or rather, he appeared to take a specific interest in her. Recalling Kakashi's assertion that Clan Nara would be backing her—and hoping he wasn't lying—Rin smiled a bit more sincerely at the man.

Clan Hyuuga called out, "We will have peace and order in this hall, or I will call an end to this meeting and take it behind closed doors!" Within seconds everyone in the crowd had silenced.

"There is no need to talk about this!" Said the Uzumaki substitute. "This is a lie!"

"SILENCE!" Clan Hyuuga demanded, glaring with veins protruding from his face at the substitute. The plump man sat down but he remained very purple in the face. Clan Hyuuga looked at Rin with a frown on his features. Rin thought most of the people there must have figured out already that she had something to do with the Uzumaki substitute, though they were probably coming up with many reasons that were all wrong. "If you would please introduce yourself to the Council and state your business here?" It was less of a request than it was an order.

She tilted her head in acknowledgement of the order, folding her hands gently in front of her. "My name is Rin Uzumaki and I," she couldn't finish without screaming. The hall was filled with murmurs and chatter.

Clan Hyuuga tried to bring order and silence back, but it took him several minutes. His head looked ready to pop with all the swollen veins on his face. He really ought to get that checked out, Rin thought. It didn't seem like it would be healthy to remain that way.

When the room had again returned to silence with only the slightest of quiet chatter present, Clan Hyuuga said, "Continue."

Rin nodded again and finished, "I am here because a request has been made for me to take the Uzumaki seat." She felt it would work better for her if she let them know she was here because someone else asked her to be, rather than if they thought she was here because she wanted to be.

Clan Hyuuga pursed his lips thoughtfully as the Uzumaki substitute grew ever-more colorful. "Have you substantial evidence to prove your heritage?"

She shook her head and murmurs went around, though they were quiet enough that Clan Hyuuga could pretend they weren't there. The Uzumaki substitute burst out angrily, "If you cannot prove your heritage, which is a lie, there is no need for you to come to council! I will not be fooled! Everyone knows who the heir is!"

Clan Hyuuga said, "If you cannot prove," he sounded regretful as he trailed off.

Clan Nara spoke up, "I will vouch for her."

The murmurs got out of hand again. "Silence. SILENCE!" The word echoed through the hall and a sudden deathly quiet fell over the hall. The Uzumaki substitute was a royal purple color now. Rin wondered if that would have any lasting side-effects later in his life.

"ON WHAT GROUNDS?" The substitute was panicking. Rin supposed he knew his time on the council was very closely coming to an end. She supposed he knew he wasn't well-liked on the council. And she could see why Kakashi was so confident of her.

Clan Hyuuga glared at the substitute. "If you cannot maintain yourself, you can expect nothing less than removal from the hall as this issue is sorted out." The substitute gritted his teeth and became still. Clan Hyuuga turned to glance at Clan Nara. "On what grounds do you find to vouch for her?" he inquired.

Rin was as curious as everyone else. She didn't know the guy. The only person in the entire hall who she knew was Gai, and he was all the way at the back. It was only after a lengthy sigh and a muttered 'troublesome' that Clan Nara spoke up. "My younger sister Tsuke married Kyo Uzumaki. This child looks very much like her mother."

Rin bottled her irritation at hearing that. She didn't want to look like her mother, but the first time her looks would come in handy, it was because of her mother. She hoped her brother wouldn't hate her because she looked like the monster… She remained silent and Clan Hyuuga spoke again.

He nodded, "Welcome to Clan Hall, Uzumaki-san. Are you aware of the contents of the letter of introduction provided by Clan Hatake?" His voice once more rang through a silent hall.

"I believe it might inform you that I am the younger of twins born to Kyo and Tsuke Uzumaki. I was born on the eighth of October while my older brother, Naruto, was born on the seventh." She was fairly certain it said something along those lines. She continued with, "On the seventeenth of October," a few people squirmed at the mention of the date, "my mother and father died and my brother and I were placed in foster care."

Clan Hyuuga said, "It does speak of this, but it does not give a reason as to why no one has heard of a second child. Do you have an explanation for this?"

Rin fought to keep the bitterness she felt at fifteen years in prison change her facial expression, just barely managing to keep it still. "My mother was expecting only one child and I have been told my parents enjoyed a private life before their deaths."

She didn't want to admit she'd been in prison for fifteen years aside from losing her parents; she'd already seen the negative response from such a declaration and she doubted these hardened warriors would be anywhere near as understanding as Mari had been about it. The Uzumaki substitute was staring defiantly at her; it didn't take more than a few seconds to put together what his thoughts were. He knew.

"She lies!" he growled, barely able to keep his voice below shouting. "She is Kyuubi's brat; the demon child! She has been in containment at the prison for years and that fool Sarutobi cut a deal to release her! Now she seeks power that is not hers!"

The pause was deafening and the substitute withered beneath the glares of several of the clansmen. Clan Hyuuga, since he seemed to be in charge of the questioning thus far, asked, "Is this a truthful accusation?"

Rin merely shrugged. "Not entirely," she said. Clan Hyuuga raised an eyebrow as if to say 'which parts?' "Yes, I am known as Kyuubi's Girl and yes I have been living within the prison for longer than I can remember. No, I am not a demon, Sandaime Hokage-sama is in fact not a fool, and I am not here to seek power."

Clan Inuzuka leaned forward, her finger trailing gently along the puppy's head. It was snoozing and the bottle she was feeding it from was now resting on the table. "Then why are you here, Uzumaki-san?"

The clansmen all appeared to be amused at Rin's response and she felt that was a good thing. It was also a very good thing that none of them appeared to hold very much stock in the substitute's words. They seemed to be taking her at her word, and that might have been largely due to Clan Nara vouching for who she was.

"I have been asked to take up the duties of the Uzumaki clan." She said.

Clan Hyuuga said, "Then you are here for power."

"I don't really want it," Rin admitted. "But I was asked to, and so here I am."

Rin watched as the members of the high table began to mutter amongst themselves for a few minutes. The murmuring in the crowd of minorities got louder until with a loud roar, Clan Hyuuga said, "SILENCE!" Everyone settled down and the Uzumaki substitute seethed.

Clan Hyuuga said, "We are prepared to award you five thousand dollars and a small subdivision to house yourself and your brother for reclaiming your seat on the council."

_The minority card_, Rin thought. _A subdivision instead of a district. Kashi-kun was right on the mark when he called it._ Her brain raced through possible, non-offensive responses that might get her what Kakashi said she was owed. If it was very important she get it, then she was going to; but the question was, how? She couldn't simply stand there all day thinking, she needed to think of something now.

A glance at the purple substitute gave her the answer, and more. Feigning a hesitant smile (that was bought by all of them except the substitute who probably knew she was smarter and less innocent than she portrayed herself) she said, "I will take the seat, and you can keep the money and land if you would do me just one tiny favor."

Clan Hyuuga tilted his head in acknowledgement and the substitute looked furious. He knew her game. She would have to be surprised if he didn't, because the Elder Council controlled him, right? And she announced herself many places as an Uzumaki, so he would've been an idiot if he hadn't found out considering any Uzumaki was a threat to him and his position on the council. "State your demand," Clan Hyuuga told her.

"While I lived in prison," she only had the substitute to thank for this line, because she wouldn't have been able to justify it if they didn't know her as Kyuubi's Girl, and she wouldn't have brought it up herself, "I was cared for by five wonderful people. It would mean so much to me if they were released."

"Who are these people?" Clan Hyuuga inquired.

_If I come in at a very high price_, Rin thought, recalling Kakashi's advice, _it will only benefit me_. She was going to come at as high a price as she could get, and the best way she could think of how would be to use what she knew of human nature against them. Humans were afraid of demons and therefore did not like them and would not want to free five of them so they would most likely bargain and negotiate with her far more easily if she hung that demand over their head.

"They are the five fox demons."

Rin could swear the room lost twenty degrees in temperature all of a sudden. She could practically taste the fear as it swept through the room. The Uzumaki substitute shouted, "I told you! She is a demon! She will bring destruction upon this city!!"

"Not all demons are dangerous," Rin told them with a frown. "It's just the ones who have nothing more than primal instincts that you have to worry about, and these five are highly intelligent beings."

"They eat raw meat and talk gibberish," the man insisted, trying desperately to make an argument that would last. He really didn't want her there.

Ignoring the raw meat comment—they were fond of it so she couldn't deny it—she said, "They speak a different language; to them, you are the one who talks nonsense."

"Enough," Clan Hyuuga snapped. "Remove yourself from this hall, Pyota. This council will hear your arguments no more." The man stormed out of the hall looking thoroughly humiliated. She had made an enemy out of him, but apparently amused everyone else she could see. Clan Hyuuga asked, "Why are you insistent upon bringing these…five," he was going to say 'demons' she knew, "out?"

Rin kept an even tone as she said, "I wish to have protection from those who would wish ill of me." She purposefully let her eyes fall on the door the Uzumaki substitute had stormed out of. Let them think it was him she worried over, and not that she was actually twisting things around.

"Surely your brother would protect you," Clan Weis suggested.

Rin tilted her head, "I wouldn't know; I have yet to meet him. He may not even like me. But he is a shinobi and even if he would, there will be times when he can't."

"He could transfer to inactive duty," Clan Ryu told her.

_Oh, how sneaky_, she hummed internally. They would not only keep her from her rights, but also attempt to get her brother ineligible for being Hokage. She didn't even have to ask anyone to know an inactive soldier would not be chosen for Hokage. _Naruto must have a really unfavorable reputation. I wonder what he did… Has he grown up a bad man? No, Kakashi would have told me._ She hoped.

"But that would mean he would be ineligible for Hokage, and I would not want to take that away from him." There. She turned it around on her shoulders, rather than criticizing them and making them embarrassed. _Give me all you've got. I'm ready._ She thought, taking pride in the way this game was played and how well she was doing so far.

Clan Ryu said, "We must all make sacrifices in the line of our duties."

"No, thank you." Rin said. "The kitsunes can protect me just as easily, and my brother need not sacrifice his dream."

The remaining nine members of the high table whispered amongst themselves again, and the crowd chattered again. When the clansmen turned back to the crowd of minorities and Rin, silence fell without needing to be called for. Clan Hyuuga said, "Uzumaki-san, I must ask you to step outside while the council is addressed."

Rin nodded and could swear she nearly killed herself stepping off the podium. The kunoichi who took her letter of introduction to the high table followed her out of the clan hall. She didn't talk to Rin; she just stood in front of the clan hall doors. Rin's feet hurt so much she just wanted to take off the heeled shoes and throw them as hard and far as she could. She really hated shoes.

It felt like a very long time that she was waiting outside. It had even become dark enough that she could see some of the brighter stars. As she looked at them, she marveled not for the first time since her release to be able to just stand under the stars at night. She couldn't do that in prison. She pulled the violet shawl tighter around her as an evening chill settled.

_I wonder what Naruto is doing right now?_ She thought, star-gazing.

xXx

"NANA!" Frankie screamed, racing toward Naruto with panic written all over her. "SAM IS MISSING!"

Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow onto his sleeve before trotting off with Frankie to find her doll. He never questioned why a fourteen-year-old still had a rag doll, but figured it was something special to her from her childhood. They found Frankie's doll stuck between her bed frame and the wall just in time to hear pained crying.

Naruto dashed downstairs and found the eight-year-old Jordan sitting on the floor holding his knee as if he'd reached the end of the world and found out it wasn't what he expected. He knelt next to the child (who appeared completely uninjured) and said softly, "Hey, kiddo, what's the matter?" He didn't like it when they cried, but he couldn't just yell at them for crying either. All the running around was starting to give him cramps in places he'd never, through years of shinobi training, known he could get cramps.

"Dev pushed me! Look!" he pointed to his supposedly injured knee. Naruto wanted to smack himself on the forehead many, many times.

"It's not bleeding," Naruto began, but Jordan began wailing even harder than before. Naruto got an idea. "Hey, I know a way to take your mind off the pain." He told the child.

Jordan instantly stopped wailing, started sniffling, and looked piteously at Naruto. "What is it?"

Naruto tapped Jordan on the shoulder, "TAG!" he teased the boy and then jumped up and ran away. Screaming from another part of the house caused Naruto to stop in his steps and Jordan caught him and—now laughing—tagged his arm.

"No tag-backs!" Jordan yelled, zooming away happily, all injury forgotten.

Breathing heavily, Naruto went to check in on whoever was screaming. "Nana, Jaq won't give me back my new shuriken kit!" Cody complained.

Jaq yelled, "I don't have it!"

"She just doesn't want me to have it for the Chunin exams!"

"Even if did take it, which I didn't, I wouldn't take it before the written exam! I'd take it before the physical tests, stupid!"

Naruto groaned and sat down on Vvim's bed. He was pretty sure this kind of 'strenuous activity' was exactly what the doctor told him to avoid. "Jaq, why don't you help Cody look for it?" Naruto suggested as more screaming came from downstairs. He already knew that scream was Vvim.

He entered the living room to find Terrence holding an angry Vvim, and Cleo was nursing a bleeding bite mark on his arm. "Damn, Naruto, what's wrong with these kids?" Cleo asked as Vvim struggled to get at him and bite him again.

Naruto sat down heavily on the nearest sofa. "What did you do to make her mad?"

"I didn't do anything," Cleo said.

"IT'S MY CHAIR AND ONLY ME AND NANA CAN SIT IN IT, AND SAKURA, AND TERRY, BUT NOT YOU!"

Terrence looked amused. "You're afraid of a two-year-old, aren't you Cleo." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. Cleo's gold skin did look a bit paler than usual, and his rabbit ears were slightly drooped. Her screams were hurting his very sensitive hearing.

Naruto groaned, "Is it bedtime yet?" He tipped over on the couch, barely recalling he had to talk Sakura into going to the gathering with him tomorrow still. He thought he would just close his eyes for a brief minute, but it turned out it was longer than that. Kids wore him out faster than big missions did.

* * *

**So, so very popular...! **zoey tamagachi (long time no see!), Dark Inu Fan (I don't recall seeing you for a while either! Are you as busy as Naruto?), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Rin reads and enjoys Kakashi's books!), supersillee06 (I wouldn't do squeaky scenes or anything... their relationship would probably be similar to in this story), anonymous naruhinafan (Oh look, you reviewed again... hehe... go ahead and bug away.), yumeniai (If I could draw, I might draw your picture, but my drawing is the equivalent of mutilated stick figures), DarkRavie, Arcander (I was going to make this chapter longer and finish Rin's part, but I liked this cutoff), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 54 after I posted chapter 55.

ANSWER: Naruto is so busy these days, he's wearing himself thin.

_They say don't trust you, me, we, us. So we'll fall, we must, 'cause its you, me, and it's all about (our reviews!)._


	56. Agreements Made

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 56: Agreements Made

It felt like an eternity had come and gone before someone poked their head outside and said she could return into the hall, though that was mostly the fault of her feet hurting so bad. She had full intentions of throwing them away as soon as possible.

Everyone watched her closely as she walked up to the podium once more. She kept that innocent expression on her face as she looked up at the high table. She waited as the murmurs settled and to be addressed by the council.

Finally when it was calm again, Clan Hyuuga said, "We, the council, have agreed to offer you protection." _Instead of releasing the demons,_ she knew was the reason for this offer. "We have agreed to offer one of our shinobi or kunoichi clansmen to live with you on your subdivision."

_Ingenius,_ Rin thought. _To give all the other clans power over me. Do they think I'm stupid or don't know what they're doing? How can I turn this against them? _She beamed widely at them, knowing what they were doing, and deciding how to approach this instantly. "Oh! How lovely! I'm sure my brother will be _very_ happy our clan has new members!" Clan Hyuuga looked a little flabbergasted, as if he wasn't sure how to explain to her she was mistaken and that she couldn't actually _have_ the clansmen in her clan. "Oh, but I _do_ wonder if a small subdivision is going to be enough property to house all my new clansmen!" she tapped her chin thoughtfully. _How far will they go to keep the kitsunes in captivity?_

Clan Ryu leaned forward, his brows knit together. "The offer was not," he began, but he too trailed off as he was completely perplexed as to how to broach the topic without humiliating Clan Hyuuga. It really was Clan Hyuuga's fault if he was humiliated, because he should have clarified what he meant specifically.

"Oh, I know!" Rin chirped brightly, "One person from each clan would _hardly_ match the power of the kitsunes protection. But I'm _sure_ you could at _least_ match Orooon's power if the one who swears fealty to myself and my brother was trained by the clan head for, oh, I don't know, I'd say a year's time… Surely you wouldn't train someone if they didn't have potential, right?"

Only dead silence met her. They were startled. Clan Nara's lips were twitching as if he wanted to smile. Beside him, Clan Aburame raised a finger to press his shady glasses up his nose. Since they couldn't figure out how to address their self-made problem (which was amusing to say the least, as they were probably raised from birth to be a diplomat) she continued, "I'm sure a small subdivision would be enough to house myself and my brother and the kitsunes, but since the Uzumaki clan will be growing over one-hundred members, I worry what might happen if these people have families. I would rather we didn't have to split up."

_Is that laughter?_ She wondered as she heard snickering in the back of the hall. She didn't dare turn to find out.

Clan Hyuuga looked like a balloon ready to pop with all the veins sticking out of his face. He appeared to be struggling to keep his composure. "Uzumaki-san," he said in a rather clipped tone of voice, "I apologize, but please wait outside again while the council is addressed." He didn't actually sound sorry. She wondered if she made an enemy out of him, but then again he did sound fairly cold to her to begin with. Did he not like her for some specific reason?

She kept a naïve smile on her face as she again left the hall to wait outside. Once more the kunoichi said nothing as she guarded the door.

xXx

Sakura couldn't keep the smile off her face as Lee escorted her to Naruto's Sunagakure home. Unlike her, Lee easily navigated the city. She'd had a wonderful afternoon with him. She never realized how intelligent Lee was until that day; he'd always seemed like a simple-minded kind of guy who wore an ungodly awful outfit, had a bad haircut, and had massive eyebrows. She'd seen a different side of him. He was smart, he was a gentleman, and he really wasn't as simple as she'd imagined from his black-and-white view of life.

"Sakura-chan, you are _glowing_," Lee told her with a happy smile on his face.

She glanced at herself, but she didn't see what he saw. "What do you mean?"

"You must be thinking of Terrence," he said knowingly, and his smile faded a little. "You are very happy. But I am glad Terrence makes you happy."

Sakura almost missed a step as she realized she hadn't even thought of Terrence _once_ since Naruto's brief questioning in the café. Was it possible she was happy in Lee's company because of Lee himself? She supposed she could have ditched him after the café, but she hadn't even given it a second thought when he asked if she wanted to look around a glass shop or two. She just followed him and picked up their conversation.

She reached out and folded her fingers around his bandaged ones. The action nearly caused him to trip over his feet, but he caught himself and stopped to stare at her hand in his. He looked at her with pained disbelief in his large black eyes. She wondered why he seemed so shocked.

"I'm not happy because of Terrence," Sakura told him.

"Then it was the dinner, perhaps? I was also surprised they had vegetarian pasta, because meat products do not sit well in my stomach." Going to dinner with Lee was her idea. He hadn't eaten anything at lunch and she knew how hard he often worked. He needed food if he was to keep up his normal pace.

Sakura smiled and said, "It wasn't the dinner." Lee was struggling to understand. He looked at their joined hands and at her again before his face turned red and he dropped her hand like a hot brick. He began muttering apologies, though she wasn't sure what for.

"I, uh, should, um, walk you back now," Lee said.

Except he didn't exactly start walking. He looked more than ready to bolt away from her, and she couldn't figure out what was the problem. When the answer came to her, it practically bowled her over. He didn't want to steal her from Terrence and he was afraid he was going to.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle. In a way, it was cute. "Don't worry, Lee-kun. Friends can hold hands too." She held out her hand and watched as he nervously flexed his fingers before taking her hand. Most of the redness dispersed from his face but his cheeks remained very pink.

They continued the walk back and Lee stopped just in front of the broken picket fence framing the sandy yard. He seemed to be reluctant to say anything, so she said, "Thanks, Lee-kun! I had a great day today."

He dropped her hand again and reached into his Chunin vest pocket, pulling out a small, feminine looking hair clip with a very pretty pink heart shaped glass nugget mounted on it. "I, um… saw you looking at this so I thought I would buy it for you…" He blushed again. "You do not have to keep it, but, um, I do not have a use for it…"

She was amazed at how inarticulate he was today. Usually he spewed out sentences easily, but the stammering was very adorable. She accepted his token with a smile and clipped it to her forehead protector, since that already held most of her hair out of her face anyway. "Thanks, Lee-kun. I love it. How do I look?"

He finally regained his bearings at that question. "I do not believe I am the right evaluator for your appearance, Sakura-chan. I am very predisposed and would give an unfair response highly favoring your immeasurable beauty." She couldn't help but giggle; in a roundabout way, he was very complimenting.

"Lee, don't ever change," Sakura told him and kissed him on the cheek. "You're going to sweep some unsuspecting girl off her feet one of these days." She turned to head into the house, missing his next muttered comment.

"I hate hoping Sasuke-kun is right about you…"

Sakura looked back at Lee. "Did you say something?" He shook his head. "Oh, well, goodnight, Lee-kun." With that said, she went into the house. No one was up; Mesa Theroux had planned on making sure the kids went to bed early so those taking the Chunin written exams the following morning could get plenty of rest.

Before going to bed, she checked the bunk room for Naruto and, on seeing him in Vvim's bed, she tiptoed over to him, took out her tiny flashlight, and carefully peeled the covers back. She unbuttoned his pajama top to check the injuries on his chest (this _was_ what she was staying there for, and she hadn't been around to check them earlier; she couldn't be certain Ino or Fuyumi bothered to check on Naruto before he went to bed). He was such a heavy sleeper, he never even twitched as she gently prodded the irritated flesh around his stitches. It wasn't too bad, but she needed to make sure he didn't overexert himself the next day.

She buttoned his top back up and the little blond haired girl shifted and curled up into her 'nana's side. Sakura quietly covered them up, smiling at the cute image her teammate made with a kid, and slipped back out of the room knowing full well the light-sleeper Terrence would have woken up during her intrusion. Still, she didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. She just wanted to go to bed and revel in what a nice day she'd had.

xXx

Rin was again asked to return to the hall after a very long, boring wait. Her feet hurt so much by that time, it was a wonder she wasn't limping. She proceeded to the podium again and stood on it.

Clan Hyuuga had a frown tacked firmly upon his face. He beckoned the kunoichi forward; she went and he handed her papers that were to be given to Rin. Rin accepted them when the kunoichi brought them, looking them over. It appeared to be a map of the city. Several circles were on the map, each labeled in an alpha-numerical form with "E" as the alpha, and a seemingly random number between one and one-hundred tacked on it.

Each of these locations seemed to be a sizeable portion of land. As she glanced over it, she was addressed by Clan Hyuuga. It seemed they had—rather than losing face to her—decided to go along with 'giving her clansmen'. She doubted it would be as simple as that; the transfer would undoubtedly bring many strings attached to it. It wasn't unreasonable for her to assume most, if not all, of these newcomers would remain loyal to their previous clan.

"You will find that map to be a list of all available districts. The accompanying papers are a brief summary of each district, how developed they are, and a general census of traffic through the district." She set the map aside and flipped through the papers, skimming them but remaining with the smile of a simpleton on her face—as though she couldn't understand a word of it.

Mari had suggested Rin be an actor because Rin was so good at pretending she was something she wasn't. Rin told her she doubted she'd ever enjoy that sort of job because it wouldn't leave much time for gardening. Mari had laughed at that.

Clan Hyuuga continued, "If you wish to take this week to decide on the available districts and which you feel would be most beneficial to your clan's needs," she smiled at him and shook her head. He trailed off. "You do not want a district for your new clan?"

"Oh! I would love the land, and I thank you on behalf of my new clansmen and my brother," she told him airily. Except she'd already made up her mind. She pulled out the summarizing piece of parchment and held it out to him. "This one looks nice!" The kunoichi took the slip of paper to Clan Hyuuga; he looked it over before passing it on to his fellows.

Clan Aburame said, "District E12? Are you sure?"

Rin nodded. Looking it over, she could easily see it fit _her_ needs, even if it wasn't the ideal district for the rest of the people who would join her there. She knew logically that most of the people wouldn't really be loyal to her. The district she'd chosen was described to be a small valley in the mountains. It was declared 'unable to be developed' because city water, power, and sewer lines were unable to be extended out to it, but it was still technically within the city's 'boundaries'.

"This district isn't like any of the others," Clan Inuzuka warned her.

"I know. It's perfect for us," Rin chirped, purposefully adding the 'us' in there. "Naruto's Jounin-sensei, Hatake-san, said Naruto enjoys wide open spaces and nature in general." She bit back a coy little smile that _so_ wanted to present itself, opting once more for the simpleton smile. "And after a recent trip in which my brother spent in prison, I have learned that nature loves my brother as well, so it is perfect!"

"Do you not think it would be very inconveniencing to yourself, your clansmen, and your brother to have to make the trek daily from such a remote district to the inner city? There really is no easy way there and back," said the Uchiha substitute.

Clan Ryu added, "It's about an hour's walk, to be precise."

Clan Nara recommended, "Our information on that district is also over a decade old; the place is probably overgrown beyond belief by now." Even though his words were an attempt at dissuasion, she saw his eyes were encouraging her to keep pushing forward.

"That's okay," Rin said, "I don't mind a bit of gardening," she made sure to say it light and offhandedly, and received a stunned reception from her declaration. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Oh, but how will I ever pay for such people and property? So many people might eat through five thousand dollars before a month is up, and then I won't be able to make sure to pay property taxes. My parents didn't exactly leave me a fortune to inherit, and my brother _is_ only a low-ranking Genin right now so he won't be able to pay for all this himself. Even with the paychecks of the new clansmen, I wouldn't be able to feed them, pay for living expenses until some shelter can be put together, and pay land taxes simultaneously… And winter isn't that far off…"

She threw her lip out in a pout (barely able to believe it was working and they were feeding off it like babies on a nipple) and finished off her small drama, "I can see why my father decided to stay off the council… I'm not even on it yet, and I'm already fretting over the responsibilities of having a clan!"

Clan Hyuuga was burning purple at the thought of having the substitute remain on the council. She was going to fall into a fit of giggles after it was all over… "If you would please step outside while the council is addressed?"

Again, she went. Again, the kunoichi stood in front of the door. This time, though, the kunoichi said something. "Uzumaki-san?" she asked, and Rin glanced at her, surprised she was actually talking.

"Yes?" she asked.

The kunoichi smiled sincerely. "I'm Heit Ryu of Ryu clan. Just to let you know, if they actually go for this I'm going to _request_ to join your clan, if that's alright."

Rin bit back a smile. "As you wish," she told Heit.

They returned to the usual silent routine and Rin was again called back in. She stepped up onto the podium and beamed at the high table. Clan Hyuuga cut to the chase. Apparently it was getting late and he hadn't had his nap yet so he was snappish. "We are prepared to offer you one-hundred thirty-six clansmen trained by the clan head as you requested, one of which is to be the first born child of the Uchiha heir who it has been agreed will stay in your district but receive training from the Uchiha heir as the child grows, one thousand dollars toward the wellbeing of each person, and district E12 for the return of the Uzumaki clan to the council high table."

_Wow, they _really_ want me,_ she thought, smirking internally. _Let's see what else I can do?_

She let a 'look of dawning' spread across her face as if she'd just had a terrible thought. "Oh, my…" she pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips. "But," Clan Hyuuga was going to pop, but she pressed forward anyway, "such a transfer of clansmen is undoubtedly going to brew animosity within my subordinates. It could be very unsafe for me as these people might not be too happy to be taken out of the clans they have always known and transferred to one that has so very little to offer them…"

Clan Akimichi spoke up, "We've thought of that as well, and will choose only those who are willing to make the transfer and swear fealty, and who are not involved in relationships that may complicate their willingness or loyalty to you. Is that acceptable?"

"I suppose it would be," Rin tapped her chin thoughtfully, glancing at the ceiling as though thinking. It wasn't hard for her to come up with her next line. "But I still don't feel quite comfortable with these arrangements." She watched them shift with uncertainty and then smashed down the final bricks. "I would accept this, provided at least one of the kitsunes were released to me. Specifically Orooon; he's the least powerful of the five and the most logical and level-headed, so there would be no danger to the city at his release." Most of them seemed to have swallowed lemons—whole.

She finally dropped the 'naïve' expression and glanced with utmost seriousness at the council. "I wish to be able to go to the prison and retrieve Orooon by next Friday at noon, and I desire to have met the shinobi and kunoichi by Sunday _before_ this council convenes. I will accept the money on Sunday if prior conditions have been met. If these demands are not met within the time frame, I will revert to my original demand of all five kitsunes released or neither myself nor my brother will take the seat."

She watched them contemplate this deal before Clan Hyuuga ground his teeth and gave her a sharp nod. "The council agrees to these terms. All clansmen to swear fealty to you may be seen seeking lodging in District M's Pearl Hotel by Sunday at noon."

"And Orooon?" Rin insisted, "When can I expect to pick him up?"

Again he ground his teeth. "Friday at noon. This council is _adjourned_; we will convene again next Sunday at which time Clan Ryu will lead the proceedings. Please return here to be sworn into the council at five PM, Uzumaki-san." She tilted her head in acknowledgement before glancing at Heit. The kunoichi looked appraisingly at Rin before following Clan Ryu out a side door.

_He left rather quick,_ Rin thought before a sudden laughter drifted back into the hall. Almost on cue with that uproarious laughter, the hall burst into conversation. It wouldn't take long for word to get around. She still couldn't believe it had _worked_. She could successfully tell Kakashi she got what she was owed _and then some_.

She glanced quickly at a light touch to her arm. Gai was there, smiling at her broadly. He helped her down from the podium and whispered in her ear, "Thank you."

Her brow furrowed in confusion and she looked up at him. "For what?"

"On behalf of the many minor clans, just…" he appeared to be out of words to describe whatever it was he felt she'd done for him. "Thank you."

She shook her head. "I didn't do anything, Gai."

Rin was approached by Clan Nara and Clan Akimichi. The larger of the two caused people to make a wide berth around the pair and Clan Nara said, "Would the two of you like to join us for an impromptu gathering in the Akimichi district?" The invitation was directed at them both but he only looked at Rin as he spoke.

_He does look a bit like the monster,_ Rin thought, recalling how her mother was supposedly this man's younger sister. His eyes searched her face. What was he looking for? Did she want him to find whatever it was?

Gai cheered, "A youthful gathering! We would be delighted!"

And with that, Rin groaned internally. Couldn't they at least let her take off the shoes for a while?

xXx

It was an ordinary Sunday evening in the Hyuuga branch house. Most of the branch members were already asleep, and even Neji had resigned himself to an earlier-than-usual bedtime (his normal bedtime was midnight or later).

He was in bed early because he simply wasn't feeling well lately. He supposed he must have caught the Autumn flu or something, or maybe he ate something that wasn't sitting well with his stomach, but he'd spent the majority of his morning vomiting (giggling girls from the branch house claimed he had to have morning sickness—it had been surprisingly difficult to keep in a stupid retort more suited to someone like Kiba). Having spent his morning vomiting, Neji was apprehensive to even _think_ about eating for the rest of the day. Just a short while ago, he'd managed to down some chicken noodle soup, but even as he lay in his bed he simply knew it was _going_ to come back up again and he was _not_ going to like it.

Fate seemed to like tugging at the chains around him, making him dance like a puppet more than anyone else he knew, because despite being sick, Hiyashi had ordered him to patrol the district for troublemakers. Patrolling was a necessary evil, as the Hyuuga clan had quite a few rival clans. Certain members of the Ryu clan were constantly entering the district to break windows, spray paint walls, and freeze the water pipes with their specialty ice jutsus.

Neji tried to tell Hiyashi he didn't think he was fit to patrol (it was enough of a blow to his pride just to admit that) but Hiyashi was in one of his 'moods' that morning where nothing was right in the world because Hinata wasn't as perfect as Hiyashi wanted her to be.

Did it matter that Hinata wasn't even _around_, or even in the city for that matter, to be moody about? It didn't seem so, because Hiyashi was the clan leader and he could do whatever the hell he pleased. And since two of Team Gai were currently on assignment in Sunagakure, Neji was on temporary inactive duty—unless of course his services were specifically required on a mission, which was unlikely for it to occur since there were hundreds of other Byakugan users available. That meant one thing: Neji had no reason to justify leaving the Hyuuga district to get out of patrol duty.

And it was highly unlikely for Gai to seek Neji out to train together. Gai was still upset at Neji for taking the Jounin exams without waiting for his teammates to be ready so they really weren't on speaking terms at the moment.

Neji groaned as stabs of pain attacked his stomach. He'd been sick very little in his life, but this was worse than he'd ever dealt with. He supposed a large portion of the hell came from persevering through the task of patrolling (while frequently puking in alleyway garbage bins) and being caught off-guard by a couple of Ryu clansmen who had a grudge against Neji because he was a Hyuuga. Defense was really hard while vomiting, he'd come to learn.

As he'd known, he was definitely not fit to patrol that day. Those Ryu clansmen not only handed him his ass, but they littered that alley (and him) with all sorts of colorful spray paint graffiti. By noon, Hiyashi had heard about what happened and he was incredibly displeased. Being ill was a disgrace to the family name, and being weak was traitorous.

Hiyashi had ordered Neji to clean up the alley before he returned from the clan hall or there would be hell to pay (not that he ever saw much of his paychecks to pay _anything_ since ninety-five percent of his paychecks went immediately to the clan).

Usually Neji was awarded with far better treatment than any other branch member. However, he was quickly reminded what his true place in the hierarchy was by the events of that day. Just because Hiyashi trained him did not mean at all that Neji was worth anything.

He hated it but that was how it was in the Hyuuga clan. The branch members were slaves to be branded and controlled. Those with bad blood—those who are diseased or weak—are culled to keep the bad blood from spreading.

Neji glanced at the door as it slammed open. Upon seeing an anxious woman from the main house standing in the way, silhouetted by the light from the hall, he struggled to his feet and bowed to his superior. Movement made him want to vomit even more, and sent more stabbing pains into his stomach.

"Get dressed!" She said urgently. "Hiyashi-sama wants you in the dojo immediately. I wouldn't leave him waiting! He's more furious than I've ever seen him."

Neji swallowed the bile that wanted to come up and changed as quickly as he could manage into his usual white and gray, attaching his nin-gear and forehead protector. He felt like a cripple as he walked through the halls of the branch house toward the front door. There he put his combat sandals on and then made his way across to the training dojo.

Hiyashi was pacing. Neji's heart sank into his sick stomach. That was not a good sign. Neji didn't need a shout out to know the council had not gone well. It was also quite clear that—for the first time—Neji was going to be the one to take the brunt of Hiyashi's irritation. Usually it was some other branch member or it was Hinata.

Neji got to his knees and _really_ bowed, his forehead to the floor. At times like these was when it only felt proper to use all formalities possible.

"Get up you twit," Hiyashi growled, and Neji did, standing near the door still. "Get over here." Neji went over to his uncle. His uncle stopped pacing to glare at Neji. "What do you know about the Uzumaki clan?" he demanded.

Neji quickly dredged his memory for an answer. "They were one of the ten founding clans of Konoha, known especially for their blond hair and blue eyes. Their blood trait is unknown, if they even have one. I do not know anything else," he admitted. He wondered what happened that Hiyashi was so furious. Naruto was in another city and couldn't have been responsible for any vandalism in the district.

"They're _vile_ creatures," Hiyashi scowled. "Since the founding of Konoha, the Uzumaki line has been nothing but a direct line of males because they're cannibals; they eat their female young in a sacrificial ritual to support their blood trait."

_So they do have a blood trait?_ Neji wanted to ask, but he bit his tongue and simply swallowed more bile. Somehow he couldn't picture Naruto sacrificing anything just so he could have a blood trait. Naruto seemed like the type of person who would rather go without than do something so cruel as ending a life just to be a little more advantageous.

"That dirty little _tramp_ came into the hall and made a _mockery_ of me." Hiyashi returned to pacing the floor. "Damn that whore!" In a sudden movement, the pacing stopped and Neji found himself under a barrage of attack. Hiyashi was attacking with the intent to kill, not train, and Neji could barely keep himself from vomiting. It wasn't long before Neji found himself skidding across the floor of the dojo.

"I don't know how she lives," Hiyashi continued, prowling toward Neji with all the grace of a true Hyuuga, "but someone as innocent as her will soon find herself with a knife in her back. I would _love_ to put it there myself." Neji had none of the grace Hiyashi had, at least today anyway. He wobbled to his feet, already feeling terribly bruised from his beating earlier in the day.

He still didn't know what had gotten his uncle all worked up, but it was clearly not Neji's personal failure to remain healthy, and it wasn't Neji's failed patrol duties. But that was still coming.

As Hiyashi pounded his frustrations out on the weakly defended Neji, he began to spew some strange accusations. As far as Neji could determine, an unknown sibling of Naruto had stepped forward to claim the Uzumaki seat. She had backed him into many corners, forcing Hiyashi to take extreme measures to make sure the Uzumaki substitute Pyota did not regain the seat. And they were having a welcoming party for the sibling in the Akimichi district.

Hiyashi was very furious about that. How _dare_ they have a welcoming party for her? Neji thought it would be a normal thing, but apparently it stretched the boundaries of inappropriate. That was a pessimist's view, of course, because anything that stretched the boundaries of inappropriate would be stretching the boundaries of _appropriate_ as well, didn't it?

Neji was still struggling not to puke, which was getting harder by the second, and each blow Hiyashi landed (he was doing surprisingly well, blocking at least ten percent of the blows) further urged him to throw up. He really wished he didn't have whatever sickness he'd come down with recently.

A final strike sent Neji rolling across the floor. "She _demands_ protection? She _demands_? She _demands_ they be trained for at least one year _by me_? She _demands_ a demon, and property she _doesn't deserve_, and money she _has no right to_?"

Neji struggled to his feet. His pride kept him from staying down. He should have, and he knew this. Before he met Naruto, he probably would have thought fate had decided he should not get up. Since meeting Naruto, though, it was as though a part of him suddenly became stupid, and that part was too large to fight against.

Hiyashi finally scowled and turned away from him. "You will be joining the Uzumaki clan. Swear allegiance to this supposed 'Rin Uzumaki'. Win her favor and sway her decisions to my views, and I will reward you with a release from the Caged Bird seal." Neji wasn't quite sure what he was hearing. If he did this, he would be free? It sure sounded that way…

"Hiyashi-sama?" Neji asked uncertainly, barely able to see through puffy black eyes.

"Go now, Neji. Find this witch."

Neji did as he was told, barely able to stay upright as he walked semi-hunched with his arms crossed over his pained and rebelling stomach. He didn't know where he would find her, but he wanted that freedom. If he weren't chained by the Caged Bird seal, he could be eligible for so much more training. He would be eligible to _really_ learn all of the techniques of the Gentle Fist style, rather than attempting to replicate the things he caught glimpses of.

Was it too late to catch her at the Akimichi district? It wasn't that far away from the Hyuuga district so he made his way there and knocked on the front door of where he knew Chouji lived—the main house. A plump woman answered the door rather unsurprisingly. Most of the clan was built like massive boulders with legs.

"Yes?" she asked, looking curiously at him.

He wiped his sleeve on his face, pulling back what was quite obviously blood. "Is… Uzumaki-s…san…" he was _really_ not feeling well.

She got the hint and dragged him in. The quick movement didn't do much for his stomach, but he was able to barely keep it in. "Wait here, please," she said before bustling off. It wasn't too long after that when a blur of violet and orange began walking toward him. His eyes were too swollen to see much.

The orange bell walked up to him and he could hear her gasping and asking if he was alright. "I am… Neji… from Hyuuga clan." He told her. "…To… join…" He couldn't hold it in anymore. He fell forward into her, vomiting on her before succumbing to darkness. He wasn't sure if the darkness was from sickness or being pounded on, but he was sure she wouldn't be happy to have been puked on.

He was in the hospital when he woke, though he couldn't see at all. That was unsurprising, as his eyes were glued shut from the swelling. He knew it was the hospital from the smell of antiseptics and the beeps and noises of the machinery. He'd been there enough times with Hinata to recognize the sounds. Someone was placing a cool cloth over his eyes. It felt so _nice_ compared to the burning previously felt.

Whoever it was next to him, they were humming a foreign melody, and they had a very sweet voice. He tried to wet his dry mouth to speak, but his tongue was so dry it seemed to stick to his lip for a second. "W-water," was all he could manage to croak out. He felt so pitiful to be reduced so low, but whoever was beside him didn't seem to be condemning him at all (yet). Instead they kept humming the soft foreign words, helped him to sit up, and put a straw to his lips.

When he stopped drinking, someone else told—he assumed—the singer, "Should I go get some food from the cafeteria, do you think?" Neji was completely shocked to register that as Gai's voice. Did Gai actually just speak an entire sentence without saying some ridiculous thing about springtime?

Neji was carefully leaned back again. The singer stopped singing and said quietly, "No. The doctor said no food while the medicine works its way into his system. Go home, Gai. I'll be sure to let you know if something changes."

"But, Neji…" Gai began uncertainly.

"Gai, go home. Min's probably beside herself worrying about _both_ of us." The singer said.

"Will you be alright alone?"

"Gai… _go home_. You need some rest."

Gai sighed heavily. Neji heard a door open and shut, and then the singer picked up their foreign melody again. He licked his lips. It was much easier to wet them now, and he could feel how dry and cracked they were. "What… language… is… that?" he asked. It was a very strange language, but it was soothing and so beautiful at the same time.

"Arthlezenian," the singer said, replacing the cool cloth on his eyes with a fresh one.

"What do they… mean? The words, I mean."

She began to sing again, but this time she spoke common. "Where in this world do we belong, tell me when will the light shine on us, why did we come this far tonight, and will anyone be here for us?" She sighed and stopped singing. "Riba used to sing me to sleep with the song when I was a baby. He might look gruff and mean, but he's really a big softy."

Neji recalled why he was in the hospital and asked, "What's wrong with me?"

"Do you mean apart from the fact that you've been successfully turned to fruit pulp?" He didn't really want to answer that; answering would be admitting he was weak and he didn't want to be weak. However, she didn't continue without further prompting so he said, 'Yes.' She continued, "The doctors say you have a common cold made worse from overexertion and undernourishment. Right now you're getting the necessary nutrition through a liquid drip, and until later today, the doctor suggests you don't physically eat anything or your stomach might reject it. Even then, I'm only allowed to give you soft foods."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Rin Uzumaki."

He was stunned briefly. A _clan leader_ was sitting by his bed side? That _was_ the name of the clan leader Hiyashi had said, wasn't it? Maybe this was all a very bad dream… maybe he would wake up and be in his bed in the branch house. Maybe it was just the by-product of a delirious fever, because it was absolutely ridiculous to think Hiyashi would take his aggression out on his nephew; on his most promising student (of course, Hiyashi only trained three people in person and Hinata seemed to revert to academy level when under her father's watchful eye, so it wasn't hard to excel). Hiyashi had never really done it before, so it must be true.

_No, it happened. It was bound to happen_, he thought. Hiyashi often took his anger out on his eldest daughter, so it was only a matter of time before Neji felt the wrath of the stronger man. Neji just wished he had been properly coherent (and not having to concentrate on holding in his vomit) so he could have watched Hiyashi move through the motions of the Gentle Fist style and possibly replicate them later.

He recalled what his uncle had sent him off to do. Freedom came at a price, and Neji was willing to pay it—after his stomach stopped gurgling. He was going to be free. It would be in _this_ life that he would achieve that freedom; he would be able to enjoy it!

"You know, you're going to catch a lot of heat from Min for puking on my shoes." Rin told him lightly. There was a pleasantly amused ring to her voice. He wished he could see her, but he really doubted it would be smart to activate the Byakugan at the moment, and the swelling on his eyes was probably not going to go down for days.

"I apologize for my weakness," Neji told her. It hurt to admit that, almost like it was a blow to the gut. A true Hyuuga did not have weaknesses. A true Hyuuga could not _afford_ a weakness. That was why he trained so hard, day in and day out. That was why he was always the first one awake and the last one to sleep. Being a branch member, he was nothing more than a slave to be used as a shield. He had worked his ass off to excel, to become the sword.

As a branch member, he was held back at a certain level. He would never reach the level his uncle was at. He hated that, but once the Caged Bird seal was removed, certainly he could learn what he'd been previously denied?

"Weakness?" Rin laughed, but he distinctly noticed the sound did not contain the same mocking tone he often associated with superiors addressing their subordinates. "The Goddesses know how much _I_ wanted to vomit on those shoes myself! They were absolutely wretched and they hurt my feet! At least it gave me a reason to throw the bloody things away."

She was disturbingly amused at the fact that he'd vomited on her. Neji thought about Hiyashi's words. Was it true about the cannibalism? Did the Uzumaki's really sacrifice their daughters and _eat_ them? But then why was she alive? Neji had a sudden and rather vivid image in his head of Naruto yanking a charred leg off a cooked baby on a spit. 'Mm, just like chicken!' the Naruto in the image said before Neji forced his mind to _not_ think of that.

If the Uzumaki blood trait required a sacrifice to be eaten, Neji would rather—for the first time in his life—remain ignorant.

"At least you managed to miss my dress. If you'd ruined that, Min would've been the least of your worries." Rin spoke with the same humor in her voice, as though sharing a joke that everyone could enjoy.

Curious, he wet his lips and asked, "What would you have done to me?" There was no sense in waiting to know what her anger would produce, if she would forewarn him. Had he vomited on Hiyashi, he would've been lashed. He'd never done it, but someone else in the branch house had and earned themselves fifty lashes. Neji didn't know the circumstances leading up to the person throwing up, but Hiyashi hadn't been happy. That person had never been the same after that.

"Oh, I wouldn't have done anything. It's just a dress, and I have more clothes than I'll ever need anyway."

"…Then what?" He asked.

"My friend Mari gets very obsessive when it comes to clothes. Don't take my word for it, but she might have killed you."

_Note to self,_ he thought, _Avoid this 'Mari' woman._

xXx

It was after eleven before Naruto woke up in the bunk room. He wasn't sure how he got there, or how he was suddenly in pajamas (pajamas that weren't even his, because he didn't own silk pj's!) but there he was. The room was empty, but that wasn't as surprising. It was eleven, after all. He could hear a handful of voices downstairs.

Naruto sat up, running a mental check over himself to make sure he was still intact (or as intact as he could be with all his current injuries). Next to Vvim's bed on her small bedside table was a slip of paper beneath Vvim's empty sipping-cup. Naruto moved the cup and picked up the paper. It was a note for him, obviously since Vvim couldn't read. Vvim had doodled all over it, but he could make out the words still.

_"Good morning, love,"_ he knew instantly it was from Cleo. There weren't many who called him 'love' so freely. _"I can't believe how fast you fell asleep. It did cross my mind all the fun things I could have done to you while you slept, but you are injured after all… I bought the silk pajamas for you in Grass Country. I'm glad they fit you, but now I just have to convince you to take them off for me."_

That was as unlikely to happen as Sasuke and his hated older brother skipping through a field of daisies, hand in hand, singing a merry tune together. Amusing image, but never going to happen. It was equally as unlikely as Lee suddenly turning gay and never saying the word 'youthful' again. Again, an incredibly humorous thought but one that would never happen.

_"You need to get your brat checked for rabies. I swear she's feral. Terrence barely let her go for a second and she bit my leg hard enough to warrant stitches, which made her an enemy out of Dy."_ Naruto recalled Dy easily. Dy was Cleo's Jounin leader. The older woman was incredibly protective of her students. Anyone who harmed her students made it onto Dy's kill list and they usually ended up dead within days of the action, if not hours.

Naruto felt a sick feeling in his gut. Vvim had better be alive and unharmed, or Dy was going to have not just one, but _two_ very seriously pissed off demon hosts to worry about. Naruto was fully aware of how fond Gaara was quickly becoming of Vvim. He liked Vvim so much, he went out of his way to take Vvim to dinner every day, which she had absolutely no problem with. She talked a lot about Gaara, and he was spoiling her worse than Naruto or the kids ever could (although if she started walking around with a giant gourd on her back, Naruto was going to put a _stop_ to their association very quickly).

_"Don't worry about Dy. I convinced Dodi to talk to her. I always wonder what that girl says to Dy to get her to calm down…"_ Naruto knew what Dodi said… or rather, _did_. Dodi didn't need the S-IF mastery; she was a natural. _"Dodi says hello. Qm says she wants to,"_ Naruto skimmed that part, his face turning red at what Qm wanted to do to his 'Naruko' body. He supposed Cleo being gay wasn't so surprising when he gave it a moment's thought, as both Cleo's teammates _and_ his Jounin-sensei were lesbians. Then again, one might think Cleo would like women _more_ as a result, but it wasn't to be.

Naruto stopped reading the letter when he realized it really didn't say anything more. He crumpled it up and got to his feet, throwing it in the waist bin by the door as he passed. Rubbing still-tired eyes, he made his way to the living room where a bunch of kids were rough-housing on the furniture. As he entered, a few piped up with a quick 'morning, Nana!'

"Hey guys," he told them, running a hand through his messy hair and counting the kids present. Only seven in the living room, six were rough-housing and one was eating a bowl of goopy substance (probably oats, he guessed) on the couch. "Moon-drop," he said, frowning a little as he looked at the kid.

The boy's odd red skin, brown eyes, and black hair stuck out like a sore thumb compared to most of the others who had pale or tan skin, colorful eyes, and either blond or red hair. He was born into slavery, but his family had been freed before his parents died so instead of going to the slave pens again he was given up to the orphanage. A ring of scar-tissue around his neck showed where he'd been collared for most of his life. Naruto couldn't pronounce Moon-drop's real name (he actually didn't think _anyone_ could pronounce it) but it supposedly meant 'moon-drop' so that was what everyone called him.

The brown eyes turned toward Naruto with a guilty look in them and Moon-drop's hand paused halfway between his bowl and his mouth, his jaw open to receive the goods already. Naruto knew the boy was fully aware of what he was doing wrong. "Yes, Nana?" he asked guiltily.

Naruto pointed his finger back the way he came. The boy put his spoon back in the bowl and scampered toward the dining room with his bowl. Naruto didn't have very many rules; he left it to Mesa Theroux to make up the rules, and Mesa Theroux didn't like it when the kids ate in the living room. She would let them eat cookies in the living room, but that was pretty much the extent of her exceptions. All Naruto had to do was enforce the rules, and for some weird reason (whatever that reason was) the kids obeyed his unspoken commands.

Naruto made his way to the dining hall to continue his daily 'head count'—a count that he made often throughout the day to make sure none of his kids were unaccounted for. Five of them would be taking the written exams, so he could account for eleven that way. Not counting Moon-drop, who was seating himself at the table now, there were two more in the dining room. He headed for the kitchen. Mesa Theroux was unsurprisingly in the kitchen, and two more kids were with her, helping her to prepare that night's dinner. He was missing two. There was no reason they would be in his room upstairs.

He almost called Mesa Theroux respectively, but barely remembered not to as she had a very mean looking knife in her hands at the moment. "Anna," he said and received a quiet 'yes, Master Uzumaki' in return. "Terrence and Vvim… where are they?"

The knife came down harder on the board than Naruto thought Mesa Theroux meant for. He winced; he would've felt bad for the poor animal she was chopping up, but it was thankfully dead. "Vvim decided she was going to see Kazekage-sama today and did not let anyone know she was going." She spoke Suni, probably so the little ones didn't understand what she was saying. Mesa Theroux sounded _furious_, and he could understand the feeling. His own stomach was clenched at those words.

"Is she alright? Why didn't anyone wake me?" Naruto demanded, also speaking Suni. He had enough foresight to realize the little ones weren't being told yet so there wasn't a panic.

"We tried to wake you, Master Uzumaki. You sleep too heavily." He instantly felt guilty. "Terrence went to see if she managed to make it safely to see the Kazekage. She didn't, and so he proceeded to search the city with the help of your friends." Naruto was instantly torn apart inside by the image of Vvim with a slave collar around her neck because she'd been nabbed. He really did mean it when he said no one should go out alone.

"And? Is she okay?" Naruto's brain was already becoming fuzzy with worry. She had best be alright, or he would unleash hell on the one who _dared_ to harm her.

"I don't know." Mesa Theroux said. The knife fell to the cutting board and her shoulders shook as she began to cry. That was all he needed to know before he darted out of the kitchen, heading upstairs to locate his clothes. They were folded up on top of the chest at the end of Vvim's bed, along with his nin-gear. He struggled to get dressed one-handed, hating the fact that his hand still had to be in a cast.

"Kyuu," he called, but the fox didn't answer. "Fucking fox is _never_ around when he'd be useful!" Naruto growled before exiting the house through the bedroom window. It was a faster exit than going through the house again, after all. He landed swiftly on the sand and took to the streets, keeping an eye out for a tiny little blond or her tall red-headed brother, or any of his friends really.

He was so panicked, he actually crashed into Gaara at a crossroads (though Gaara managed to keep his balance and Naruto fell on his rear). Gaara had Vvim in his arms. The little girl was looking thoroughly scolded, sobbing into Gaara's neck. Naruto knew the apprehension he felt toward her safety showed on his face as he searched Gaara's expression for any clues to what happened.

Gaara shrugged as an answer and Naruto hastily got to his feet. He took that shrug as 'she's okay' because Naruto wanted to believe Gaara wouldn't be so calm if she'd been hurt. "Hello, Naruto." Gaara said.

Vvim sniffled and lifted her tear-stained face to look at Naruto. She didn't say anything, but he had more than enough to say to her. He knew he was scowling, but he couldn't wipe that away. "What the _hell_ were you thinking, Vvim?" he demanded of the child, and she started crying again. "You've been told a thousand times! You _do not_ go out of the house, not even to play in the yard, without one of your Genin siblings with you!"

Vvim turned away from him and buried her head in Gaara's neck again, crying as if the world had just come to an end. "I have already talked to her," Gaara told him. "Do not continue to berate her."

Naruto glared at Gaara. He was upset, _very upset_, and about to spew out some stupid line, but when he met Gaara's green eyes, he saw the other demon host probably had as much of a scare as Naruto. If Gaara was the one who found Vvim, that probably meant he chose to stop working to search for her. He must really care for the girl, Naruto thought. That was a feat in itself, since Naruto knew very little could drag Gaara from work.

Naruto forced himself to release his fears. People on the street were looking queerly at Naruto and Gaara. Naruto sighed and said, "Vvim, come here. I'm sure Gaara has to get back to work, and Mesa Theroux is really worried about you."

Vvim was still crying as she reached out to him. She wouldn't look at him and immediately buried her face in his neck. He held her carefully, rubbing her back with his good hand. "She will not leave on her own again," Gaara assured him. A spike of fear shot through Gaara's eyes as he asked the child, "Will you, Vvim?"

The child shook her head violently but otherwise did nothing except cry and cling to Naruto. "I can't believe I didn't wake up," Naruto muttered, angry at himself for being such a heavy sleeper.

"Do not blame yourself," Gaara told him. "When you did not wake, I suggested you be left alone. It was my hope you would not need to find out."

Naruto scowled at Gaara for that. "Next time, _don't_." He snapped. "From now on, she's not going to come to Kazekage tower." He knew it was his irritation toward the event still that made him say it, and he could see his decision hurt Gaara.

Vvim cried harder and twisted to look at Gaara, reaching out to him. "No, Nana! Daddy Gaara loves Vvim," her claim caused Gaara to wince visibly, and the people around them had actually stopped to stare. Naruto could hardly believe she'd just called Gaara 'daddy'. Neither could Gaara, it seemed, so this must have been a first.

Naruto held her tighter as she began to kick at him. "Stop it, Vvim," he told her, which she did but she didn't stop screaming for 'Daddy Gaara'. "If 'Daddy' really loves Vvim, he can come to the house," Naruto sneered at the other demon host. They'd been getting along so well. This brought them back to square one, but Naruto was too worried about Vvim to really care.

When they got back to the house, they were in time to see the five kids getting back from the written exams. The kids were chatting happily and looked filled with pride. It wasn't hard to see they all must have passed the written exam. He did hope they did as well in the physical trials. When they saw him with the sobbing Vvim (and he was as angry as he'd been the day someone threatened to chop out Colten's tongue for insolence) they became a bit apprehensive.

"Nana?" Frankie asked, "What's the matter?"

"I want you all to look for Terrence and my friends; tell them they can stop looking now."

Cody looked confused. "Looking for what?"

Jaq nudged Cody and pointed to Vvim. A look of dawning comprehension spread on his face.

Naruto added irritably, "Frankie, go inside and tell Moon-drop to go with you. Jaq, you go with Carin, and Cody and Colten, you two go together." They nodded and immediately four of them took to the streets. Frankie hurried inside to get her brother. Naruto followed her in and went straight for the kitchen.

At his entrance, Mesa Theroux looked up. She showed no appearance of having cried earlier. She took one look at Vvim, opened her mouth to scold the child, but she closed it when Naruto shook his head. Naruto seated the child on one of the stools around the island counter. He gripped the little girl's chin and made her look at him, but she refused to open her eyes and still cried.

"Look at me, Vvim," he told her. She still refused. "_Look_ at me," he demanded quietly, and at last she did. Her blue eyes were filled with fear of the unknown. Mesa Theroux ushered her two helpers out of the kitchen with orders to set the table for lunch before pursing her lips. "The _last_ thing I want to hear when I wake up is that my little girl is _missing_. Do you remember what my rule is?"

She sniffled and nodded.

"Then tell me. What is my _one_ rule?"

"We never leave the house by ourselves." She said obediently, but then she cried, "But Terry wouldn't take me to see Daddy Gaara and I wanted to see him!"

He frowned at her again. "Gaara is very busy making sure the arrangements for your brothers' and sisters' tests are ready. He doesn't have time to baby-sit you today." He had told himself he wouldn't lecture her because Gaara said he 'took care of it' but somehow telling and doing were two different things.

"I don't need a baby-sitter!" Vvim insisted and shed more tears over her situation.

"Gaara had to leave his work today to find you!" Naruto told her, barely managing to keep from shouting at her. He was afraid she might run off again, and he didn't want that. "You had a lot of people scared!"

"I-I'm sowry, N-nana," she cried at last.

Suddenly feeling like the bad guy, he scooped her up and hugged her. She clung to him like a lifeline. Mesa Theroux, in what he imagined to be true grandmother-y fashion, procured a plate of cookies. Naruto shook his head. "No sweets today, Vvim." He hardened his resolve. He would make sure she didn't do that again. He set her on her feet, kneeling in front of her with a serious expression on his face. "You're going to spend the day in bed and think about what you've done, coming down only at meal times. Now go sit at the table."

She raced away from him. He opened the door to watch her; if she bolted, he was going to bring her back and send her to bed without lunch. He would _never_ raise a hand to her in anger. He would not be like all those people who beat him in anger. She didn't bolt, but he noticed she sat as far from his usual seat as she could get (which was fairly far).

It was hard to see her crying and not go to her and immediately comfort her. She was always so spoiled. This was probably as hard for her as it was for him.

"How long until lunch, Anna?" he asked the elderly woman.

"Half an hour," she said. He knew she was probably chewing herself up for Vvim being able to take off.

"If you need me, I'll be in the dining room then," he told her. She nodded and returned to her busy work. Naruto went and sat in his usual seat. His little blond girl was hugging her legs with her forehead to her knees on her chair. She was still sniffling and crying; he wondered how long she would do that.

Soon his kids were returning with his friends, and the younger ones were joining the table. When Terrence saw Vvim, he moved to immediately console her tears but Naruto caught his arm and shook his head. "No," he told the boy. "Leave her be."

"Is she alright?"

"Gaara found her; judging by the fact that he's not homicidal, I think she's okay but I'm going to have Sakura look at her after lunch just to be sure." Naruto assured Terrence. He looked relieved.

Terrence sat in Vvim's seat at the table for lunch as Naruto requested. While the kids ate, Naruto took his friends into the other room where he couldn't help but blow up at them all for listening to Gaara.

xXx

Gaara glared around his empty office as he entered. Yes, he was in a bad mood. He really felt his bad mood was justified because Kyuubi had just taken away his prime source of amusement. No, that wasn't really accurate. It was Naruto who did it.

_If you kill him, you can keep her,_ Shukaku whispered.

But really, what did it matter _who_ took Vvim away? She was still gone. He glanced at the kunai he'd made her.

_Or I could do it for you… I could get her… You saw her screaming… she was screaming for you… She wants to be with you…_ Shukaku told him.

He was on the verge of letting Shukaku take over. It did sound like such a good idea. He could provide for her far better than Naruto ever could. He could be around far more than Naruto who lived a week of travel away.

Then he recalled the feeling that swamped him at being called 'daddy'. He had felt… good. He didn't really know how else to describe the feeling. Warm, perhaps? As though things were _right_ for once. It was a perfect opposite from the way he felt whenever someone attempted to assassinate him.

A drop of water touched his hand. He looked at it and then at the ceiling, expecting it to have started wet-season raining and the tower had an unrealized leak. There was nothing, but another drop hit his hand. He brushed his face with his fingertips and endured the shocking realization that _he_ was leaking.

Finally things caught up to him and he moved into the small meeting room turned bedroom to be alone. It was bad enough to cry like a whiny girl; he wasn't going to let anyone accidentally walk in on it. He moved over to the bed, shoving the pillow into his face to muffle the quiet sounds he was making.

_This _was the exact reason why he didn't let himself get attached. To trust now meant to hurt later.

xXx

After lunch, Naruto still wasn't able to put the event to rest, but as he watched Sakura's glowing green hands examine Vvim, he knew further talk about it would violate his own advice to Terrence to leave the subject lie.

He really tried to hide his apprehension at spending the evening away from the house, but Sakura told him he couldn't ignore his obligation to the duties of Ambassador, and Terrence also promised to keep a close eye on Vvim and make sure she was okay.

He listened to Sakura's quiet chatter as she talked to Vvim throughout her exam. "You know, you won't always have to stay in the house," Sakura told Vvim. Vvim didn't believe her and continued to pout. "All you have to do is practice really hard and someday you'll be as strong as Naruto."

"Nana's too tough," Vvim whined. "He yelled at me a lot."

"He only yelled because you scared him, and he's a boy. They can't handle being scared like us tough girls." Sakura's attempts to cheer the girl up weren't working.

"I liked Nana better when he didn't live here," Vvim declared softly. That was the point where Naruto left, feeling hurt. He went to his room and sat on the bed. A few minutes later Sakura came into the room and sat by him on the bed.

"She's alright, though a bit stirred after all that's happened… Hey, you going to be okay?" she asked him.

Naruto shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll live," he said. Not wanting to think about the incident any more, he changed the subject to something he should've asked her the day before. "I need a date to some kind of social gathering… you have to be it." He winced and thought how smooth he was; that was the kind of thing to say when one wanted to get socked across the world.

Sakura thankfully didn't get too angry at him. "Actually, I'm going with Sasuke."

His jaw dropped. "But… aren't you dating Terrence?" he asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yes, but I want to be on-hand in case you need a medic, and Sasuke's going as your guard to avoid training with Kakashi-sensei." She looked at him seriously before declaring, "I bet if you asked Hinata-chan, she'd go as your date."

Naruto thought about that for a moment and then brightened up. "Oh yeah! She's a girl!" He wasn't sure how he could forget that most of the time. Sakura looked at him with a dry expression on her face. The situation with Vvim wanted to dampen his mood, but he forced it not to. Vvim wasn't going to do it again.

Naruto pecked a kiss on Sakura's cheek in thanks (and she swiped a right hook at him, nearly knocking the cloth off his eye) before racing off to locate Hinata. As he passed the bunk room, he poked his head in on Vvim. She was hugging a teddy bear she'd gotten from Gaara very tightly and had her thumb jammed into her mouth.

Assured she was okay, he continued downstairs and found Hinata in the living room with basically everyone else in the world. It was as if the whole world had fit into his living room magically, and he was suddenly dry mouthed and too nervous to go talk to Hinata.

So, he just did what he felt anyone would do; he raised his voice and shouted. "Hinata-chan!" She turned to face him, her cheeks suddenly flushed. He was definitely going to tell Tsunade desert missions weren't Hinata's forte. Come to think of it… Hinata was always red faced in forests too… and in the streets of Konoha… "You. Me. Date?" he asked loudly, beaming at her.

And he promptly panicked as for some reason, she passed out. "Naruto!" Ino barked in irritation.

Naruto waved his hands in front of him in innocence. "I didn't do anything!" Naruto shouted. Everyone was looking at Naruto. The triplet five-year-olds scooted over to Hinata's unconscious form on the floor and began poking her. "I swear! I was all the way over here, so I _couldn't_ have done anything! You all saw it!"

Ino screeched in exasperation. "I swear you're the biggest _moron_ I've ever met!"

xXx

Practically _everyone_ was attempting to discretely follow their favorite blond idiot as he and an incredibly nervous Hinata made their way to the tailor's. Even Sasuke was uncharacteristically curious how things would evolve between Naruto and Hinata while they were getting matching outfits made that would be suitable for a social gathering. Everyone else was going to just go in their regular clothes and nin-gear, but as a foreign dignitary, Naruto had to dress up (and Hinata could _not_ be made to wear orange, so Sakura and Ino were forced to beat Naruto up until he agreed to get new clothes made).

Sasuke never gave an excuse as to why he was so curious, but Sakura could recognize the expression Sasuke wore as his I'm-going-to-keep-watching-this-ridiculous-event-because-later-on-it-will-prove-to-be-very-useful-blackmail-material expression. Really, she'd spent far too much time as his teammate if she was categorizing his expressions, because that expression wasn't too different than his I'm-ignoring-you expression…

Leaving Lee and Terrence behind at Naruto's house to help Mesa Theroux with the kids (Lee scolded them all for poking their noses into business that wasn't their concern, but when he saw that Sakura was intent on going he shut up immediately and left the room), they were now watching as Naruto filled a void of nervous silence with useless chatter. Sakura wasn't sure how Naruto still hadn't figured out Hinata had a major crush on him.

"—and then, bam, just like that! This huge boulder was coming toward me and Jiraiya!" Naruto trilled excitedly, as if the event had just happened ten minutes earlier rather than several months ago. "At first we ran from it, but then it kept coming faster and faster and 'course I wasn't scared—not really—I mean, it was just trying to squash us. I was _going_ to Rasengan the dumb rock to tiny bits but it was like out of _no where_ that hn'On jumped in and _man_ she was totally _kick ass!_ She's a Zodiac-nin, so I donno, maybe she's here and you can meet her, but she's got this freaking awesome weapon! She almost looks like death reincarnated as a woman with it. It's a giant scythe, and 'course, she's a Zodiac-nin so black skin!"

Yep, Naruto really was useless in telling stories, Sakura thought. She winced in sympathy for anyone who had to read his mission reports. He told a lot of information that could be left out easily and repeated information and the _point_ to the story seemed to be non-existent.

Throughout the walk, Hinata was poking her forefingers together and her cheeks were pink. She wouldn't stop staring down.

"Damn, what's with Hinata-chan?" Fuyumi grumbled irritably to Sakura. "She should just jump him if she really wants him that bad."

"Shut up, you two," Sasuke growled even though Sakura had said nothing. Did he know she'd opened her mouth to respond?

The three of them were poking their heads out of an alley way, attracting rather suspicious glances from the merchants around them. Sakura didn't know where Ino and Ten-Ten were, but she knew they'd be somewhere around.

"Don't tell me what to do, Sasuke-bastard," Fuyumi snapped and pinched his ear uselessly. He made no reaction and Sakura elbowed Fuyumi. "Ow, Sakura, what was that for?"

"Stop it." Sakura told her friend. "Do you _want_ us to get caught?"

"If we are, then I'll just tell Hinata-chan to jump his ass. The girl needs more backbone!"

Sasuke turned around and shoved both of them against the wall, glaring at them both with his You're-interrupting-me-and-I'm-getting-annoyed expression. "Whether or not you _want_ to believe it, Naruto has better hearing than most people. Now shut the hell up, or I'm going to gag you."

Fuyumi glared a challenge at Sasuke. "Try it!" she snapped.

While the two glared at each other, Sakura slipped out of Sasuke's grip and poked her head around the corner. Huh… no Naruto…

"Don't tempt me, Fuyumi. Just because you're female doesn't mean I will handle you nicely." Sasuke growled.

"Uh, guys?" Sakura tried.

Fuyumi shoved Sasuke irritably. "_Handle_? You think you can handle me at _ALL_?"

"Hey guys," Sakura said.

They ignored her, continued their prideful glaring, and Sasuke hissed, "An eight-year-old could handle you."

"GUYS!" Sakura screamed.

Both turned their furious glares on her and she shivered at the hate they were displaying. She knew it wasn't meant toward her, but wow… She didn't know anyone could have so much intent-to-kill in their aura. "WHAT!" they yelled back at her.

"Naruto is _gone_." Sakura said. Their eyes went wide and they quickly poked their heads out of the alley. Since they saw no Naruto, they raced out into the street and glanced around them searchingly. Sakura followed them since she didn't really want to get lost in the city and she still sucked at navigating the haphazardly strewn streets.

xXx

_We're being followed,_ Naruto's fingers signaled her as they walked and he told a story that contained a great deal many unimportant details and didn't seem to have a point to follow (at least that Hinata could identify). _Don't say anything, just follow my lead. _

She wanted desperately to know who was following them, but he didn't tell her and that just made her more nervous. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure what 'lead' she should be following—did he want her to tell a story?—so instead she carefully made sure nothing about her changed and she wasn't acting like she knew they had followers.

She _could_ activate the Byakugan, she thought, but whoever was following them might figure something was amiss by the pulsing veins becoming visible on her face, so she resigned to trusting Naruto. He abruptly grabbed her hand with his good one after a few minutes and took off running, half-towing her.

She nearly fainted right then and there. Naruto was holding her hand! She swallowed heavily and took a few deep breaths to calm down as Neji's encouraging voice (he was only encouraging to her _after_ he whipped her butt in the Chunin exams) rang in her mind. Take a deep breath and count to ten.

She was realizing that holding her breath while running wasn't the greatest plan in the world. Maybe this was the lead she was supposed to follow? When he ran, she should run too. So she stopped allowing herself to be dragged and tried to match his speed. He was very fast.

When they stopped, she could tell they had made a wide circle of the block. Naruto darted with her behind a merchant's stall startling the merchant. He looked surprised at their sudden appearance, but Naruto shushed the merchant and motioned that he should go back to work and 'act natural'. The merchant leered at Naruto and her blond crush seemed to realize what the merchant wanted because he nodded and the merchant went back to calling out cheerfully about his goods as if nothing was wrong.

Hinata was flushed bright red; Naruto had her on his lap—oh if only the day could last longer!—and they were beneath the table of the stall, hidden away from sight. He was using his powerfully muscled legs and his good hand to keep them from being visible beneath the curtain hanging to the ground. She couldn't believe how muscled he was. Even his jacket couldn't hide it, and that he was lifting her up with such ease. And he wasn't using chakra to support them!

Hinata heard Ino's voice suddenly and nearly fell off of Naruto in shock. Why were they running from Ino? Naruto kept her from falling by supporting her with his bad arm.

"Where did they go?!" Ino asked.

Ten-Ten responded, "I don't know. I don't see _any_ of that ridiculous orange!"

Their voices disappeared into the crowd then. The merchant stuck his head under the stall and said, "Two girls are gone. Expecting more company?"

Naruto dropped, forcing an 'eep' out of Hinata as they landed with a plop in the sand. "Nah! Thanks, old man!" Naruto said. Hinata guessed accurately that they could get up and scrambled from beneath the stall. Naruto came next and dug out his wallet, handing some money to the merchant.

As they continued their walk, Hinata felt confused enough to warrant a question. "W-why were we r-running f-from Ino?" she asked, cursing her stuttering.

Naruto laughed in slight embarrassment and scratched the back of his neck. "The place we're going is sort of one of my secret places. I didn't want them knowing about it."

But it was just the tailor, wasn't it? Either way, she felt a bubble of excitement in her belly at going to one of Naruto's 'secret places'. She was _so_ glad Ino and Fuyumi had said 'yes' for her to go with him to the social gathering, because she wouldn't have gotten around to it. She would've stammered and panicked and forgotten entirely about saying 'yes' if she hadn't fainted, and he would've decided to go and ask someone else.

They trekked across the city and ended up at a small area of the city Hinata wouldn't have entered but for the fact that she was with Naruto. Menacing glares replaced cheerful inviting glances, and there were no street merchants here like there was everywhere else in the city.

Somewhat subconsciously, she moved closer to Naruto as he walked confidently through the streets. She was getting a lot of attention from the people they passed and she would bet anything those hungry looks weren't from lack of food. The people looked strong and well-fed, but they looked at Naruto with nothing short of respect.

_Where are we?_ Hinata asked herself but she didn't have a response.

Naruto noticed her discomfort and gripped her hand, smiling at her with that warm smile she loved so much. "Don't worry. You're with me, so they won't bug you."

"W-what is this p-place?" she asked, finally getting the courage to do so.

He smiled grimly. "This is a place you're going to promise not to come to without me." She instantly nodded; it wasn't much of an answer but it did confirm her suspicions that it wasn't a place she'd want to be returning to. It was filled with run-down buildings and suspicious people and… her heart sank as she saw the covered wagon ahead of them.

He specifically told them to avoid covered wagons because they would be slave trading wagons. She could draw her conclusions about this area from that.

They stopped at a plain door and Naruto had to release her hand to bang on it. She fidgeted nervously, trying to figure out what was going on. She didn't doubt for a second that she was safe with him—she could never doubt him—but if they got separated somehow… She wanted to hold his hand again.

The door opened and an old crone poked her head out. She was quite the ugly thing with hairy moles on her misshapen face, a hunched back, and scraggly thin mucky hair. Her teeth were either black or non-existent, and her hands were gnarly and deformed. She really scared Hinata, so much that she soon found herself clinging to Naruto's arm. The crone's skin was either black or else it was white and completely covered in dirt and grime. Her clothes looked no better off. Her nose was huge, long, and hooked.

He didn't seem to notice. He beamed at the hag as she let out a nasty laugh. "Eh he he he he!" she cackled, "Back you came! In, come in!"

"N-Naruto-k-kun," Hinata stammered nervously. She didn't want to go in.

"It's okay, Hinata-chan," he told her seriously.

"Eh he he he he! Child with the violet eyes, have you brought to me!" Naruto led Hinata in and she nearly passed out when the door closed behind them. Only her fear of what might happen to her if she passed out kept her conscious.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the crone. "Dza, stop being freaky." He told her.

The crone, Dza, seemed to pout for a moment before saying, "You spoil my fun."

Naruto shrugged, "I didn't come here to socialize."

"But you did as you predicted." Dza said mysteriously.

"I didn't predict _anything_." Naruto insisted. Hinata was having trouble following the conversation.

Dza hobbled across the filthy place, giggling rather insanely before pulling out a scroll. She opened it and read from it. "When I dream, it hurts. What does the child mean? I mean it really hurts. If I twist my ankle in the dream, I wake up with a sprained ankle. What does the child see in his dream yester-night? I only remember bits of it. What bits? I'm with a girl; I think she's my friend Hinata because they have the same violet eyes." Dza stopped to giggle. Hinata's blood ran cold as Naruto turned pale. "Read more, should I? Or must you remember?"

Hinata watched Naruto shake his head. "Just shut up. We're here for business; Hinata and me need outfits with matching colors."

Dza cackled and replaced the scroll. "Dza was right. The boy is a Golgan!"

"Dza!" Naruto growled, "Focus! I need clothes!"

Hinata was scared of the creepy Dza. It freaked her out even more when this creepy woman suddenly pulled four more arms out of her outfit. "Come, violet child," she waved Hinata to move closer. Hinata didn't want to.

Naruto urged her forward.

It seemed like forever had passed before Dza had finished pulling a cord around Hinata. She didn't even have to remove her clothes. Dza then did the same to Naruto and they sat and waited as Dza went into another room to do whatever it was she was going to do.

After a long silence, Naruto turned to look at Hinata seriously. "Promise me. _Promise me_, Hinata. You'll _never_ come to this place without me. Even if you're with other people you think you're safe around…"

Hinata met those serious blue eyes and she felt very frightened. He was never this serious… he was a joker. "I promise," she said. She wanted to ask 'why' but the word wouldn't come out. Instead she asked, "What is a Golgan?"

She thought he wouldn't answer at first. Then he slowly said, "They're the tribes' people of Golgawood. Don't listen to Dza; I'm a Konohagakurian, just like you. She's just… sort of nuts."

Only sort of? Hinata thought that was an understatement. Hinata wondered why they couldn't just go to some _other_ tailor in a less shady part of town…

xXx

"I'm starting to worry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said as she approached the boy. He was lounging on Vvim's giant chair in the living room, since the little girl was still confined to her bed (and therefore could not bite the person in her seat). He wasn't watching the television; instead he had his eyes closed and appeared for all the world to be snoozing. She knew he wasn't snoozing though, because little Jordan had decided to make a nest out of Sasuke's chest and was on the verge of teetering off the edge of the chair. Sasuke's arm was up, holding the small eight-year-old in place.

Sasuke opened one eye and glanced at Sakura before closing it again. "Don't," was all he said.

"Don't what?" She'd been about to take Jordan from him to carry up to bed. It was getting late and they'd already had supper. All the kids were going to bed.

The social gathering would start in two hours, which meant they needed to be going _now_. It would look good on Konoha's part if Naruto showed up early rather than not at all (like Naruto had magically forgotten to go to the luncheon). And there had been no sign of Naruto since earlier that day when he took off with Hinata.

"Don't anything," Sasuke said.

Sakura frowned. "Yeah, _that_ really helps." She grumbled.

Sasuke let out a long-suffering sigh. "The brat is fine where he is; I'll take him up when its time to go. And if anything happens to Naruto, I'll know. He's fine, so don't worry."

"His name is Jordan, and _how_ will you know?" Sakura demanded.

"He responds to brat, and I'll just know." Sasuke said and that was supposed to be the end of the conversation. He seemed to forget she was Sakura though.

"It's rude to call him a brat. Tell me how you'll know." She demanded. He peered at her through one eye, shifted on Vvim's couch to get more comfortable while holding Jordan, and then ignored her. "Sasuke, I can _always_ tell Kakashi-sensei your _real_ reason for going to the gathering."

"Has anyone told you how much of a nag you are?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm not sure if you _grasp_ what Naruto told us about the slave trading business in Suna," she started.

His eyes shot open and then narrowed on her. "I _quite_ get it, better than you do. Naruto _can_ take care of himself, and Hinata isn't a total pushover herself. _Stop. Worrying._" Sakura was offended that Sasuke thought she was worried her friends were unsafe… and it was true. Naruto was on strict orders not to use chakra or he would risk reopening one of the wounds on his chest. Without chakra and without the use of one hand, of course she was worried.

She was about to walk away (guilty feelings blooming inside her) when Sasuke's hand darted out and grabbed her wrist. One strong pull later and she lay next to him, having nearly landed on Jordan in the process, between him and the back of the giant chair. "Sasuke!" she shrieked in surprise, but it came out as a muffled 'mphe!' because he'd clamped a hand over her mouth (pushing her head into his shoulder in the process).

"Shut up." Sasuke told her. "The brat and me are sleeping."

Sakura pulled her head away from him and glared down at the boy beside her. Her face was flushed as she darted her eyes to Terrence who wasn't too far away reading a technical manual. Her new boyfriend didn't even notice her distress (or her presence). He was buried in the book like a bit of a nerd.

"Sasuke, what the hell?!" she demanded, but she kept her voice down so that Jordan didn't wake.

"Take a nap." Sasuke told her. "It's going to be a late night before this stupid gathering is over."

"What is your problem?"

He evaded the question again (but that was just like him anyway—she might think he was an imposter if he answered a question straight out). "You're going to wake the brat if you don't quit squirming. Do I have to hold you down?"

"I don't need a nap," Sakura snapped and climbed over him to get off the couch. He caught her ankle between his legs and she tripped. "Eek!" she cried, crashing to the floor rather unpleasantly. "Sasuke, you're an ass," she groaned.

"Wouldn't be myself to be any other way," he told her lightly.

She heard the front door open; Naruto's voice followed a second later. "—Sorry 'bout that, Hinata-chan. I really, _really_ didn't think Qm would do that."

"It's a-alright," Hinata stammered next. "She… seems nice…"

"Well, she _is_ when she's not all jealous and stuff. I'll clear things up with her tonight and let her know me and you really _aren't_ going out. Once she gets that, I don't think she'll attack you." Naruto said. Sakura wondered who this 'Kwem' was and found herself becoming annoyed that someone attacked Hinata. Hopefully Hinata kicked ass.

"I-it's alright," Hinata said. "Y-you d-don't have to t-trouble yourself."

"Aw, Hinata-chan, it's no problem really! 'Sides, I can't have Qm going around attacking all my girlfriends, huh?" Hinata was probably so red at that—if she wasn't already unconscious. "So you go upstairs and get undressed…" there was a thud and he trailed off before screaming, "Ah! Hinata-chan, don't be broken! Sakura-chan'll beat me up if you're broken _again_."

"Sakura's the _least_ of your worries," Ino snapped. The front door slammed open. Ino yelled out, "GET BACK HERE, NARUTO!"

Sakura looked at Sasuke. He was sitting up, shifting Jordan so the boy's head rested on his shoulder. Wow, Sakura thought, watching her scarred teammate head out of the room. Both of her teammates looked so cute with kids… They both looked so ready to start families, which wouldn't be unusual for them to do at their age. As shinobi, they had to face the fact that their lives could end without warning, so most people started a family young.

She wondered if she was ready to start a family before thinking about how much time Naruto spent dashing around the house to take care of the kids. _Definitely not_.

xXx

Naruto winced each time Sakura yanked the brush through his snarled hair. "Ow." Yank. "Ow." Yank-yank. "Ow-ow."

"Big baby," Sakura said. He was changing in the living room with the help of Sakura and Terrence. Ten-Ten, Fuyumi, and Ino were upstairs with Hinata helping her to change. Lee and Sasuke were waiting for them in the dining room with the five Genin kids of Naruto's who were invited to the social due to passing the exam.

"It hurts, though! If you weren't so rough," Naruto whined. This only earned him a harder tug.

"If you'd brush your hair once in a while, it wouldn't get so bad." Sakura told him. "How long has it been since you bathed?"

"Couple of days, why?" Naruto replied.

Terrence interrupted with a quick, "Smells like it."

Naruto flushed. "I don't smell bad!"

"You really do, Naruto," Sakura said.

Naruto groaned. He didn't really care to use the public bath house in Suna, and with the scarcity of water in the city there really wasn't any other place to wash. "Fine, I'll go tonight."

Terrence said, "It'll be closed by the time you get out of the social. Just go in the morning."

Sakura smiled gratefully at Terrence. It was probably nice for her to have someone who agreed with her, but then she didn't realize yet that Terrence wasn't really interested. He knew he didn't really smell that bad. He had a pretty good nose himself and it was in working order still.

Sakura stepped back to admire her handiwork, beaming in approval. "Wow. I don't know who your tailor is, Naruto, but they sure do know how to make you look good."

Naruto glanced at himself. Other than the bulky cast, he did indeed look really good. Of course, Cleo was going to have a field day when he saw Naruto… assuming he could keep himself from wetting his pants.

Naruto had adamantly refused to wear leather (Dza wanted to put him in tight leather pants, but Naruto _could not_ picture leather as appropriate attire for a dignitary). Instead of leather, Dza had put him in silk: a black silk haori that buttoned at the wrists instead of having flowing loose sleeves, and loose black hakama that strapped at the ankles, with the hems hidden behind a black sash that knotted on his left hip. He could still wear his combat sandals with the outfit and it wouldn't look ridiculous.

Terrence checked the knot on the sash again before raising an eyebrow at Naruto. He held out the bandaging Naruto kept over his right eye (he'd kept his demon eye shut as Sakura combed his hair). It would stick out like a sore thumb since it was white and everything else he wore was black. He took it and put it on.

Curiosity seemed too much for Sakura at last. "Why do you wear that? Your eye isn't injured."

Naruto shrugged, "Since I can't train physically, I'm training myself to get used to only one eye incase I ever lose one."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Liar. You were doing that before you got hurt."

"Before I got hurt, it was to make fun of Kakashi-sensei!" He chirped with a cheeky grin. She didn't look like she'd been sold on that, but he didn't wait for her to keep pestering (she was a girl, therefore bound to pester about simple things that made absolutely no sense). He marched out of the living room and crossed the threshold of the dining room. Everyone looked up at his entrance.

Carin, Jaq, and Frankie started to giggle helplessly as all twelve, thirteen, and fourteen year olds were bound to do at some point in their lives. Cody and Colten rolled their eyes and continued their card game (the two were playing some sort of gambling card game; poor Colten was getting his butt whipped and his money stolen).

Lee bounced up exuberantly and shook Naruto's hand. "You look marvelous, Naruto-kun!" Naruto wondered if Lee realized that wasn't the sort of thing to say to a fellow male. "Congratulations!"

He was going to tell Lee he really didn't do anything to be congratulated for (he only got dressed, after all) when Sasuke jumped in to ruin the day. "I didn't think you could look more ridiculous than you did in your outfit the other day, but I've been proved wrong."

Naruto glared for a moment at Sasuke before deciding to make him eat his words. He let an enticing smile twist his lips and advanced toward the boy seated at the table. A brief flash of uncertainty passed through those black eyes. Sakura and Terrence came into the room in time to see Naruto lean uncommonly close to Sasuke, never touching him but saying, "Exactly… _how_ ridiculous?" in a low, sultry voice.

Sasuke actually swallowed very hard as the girls (even Frankie who was thoroughly disgusted by displays of homosexuality) began to laugh noisily.

"And you yelled at _me_," Terrence grumbled.

Naruto smirked and stood up straight, looking at the red-head. "Hey, I don't have a problem with _that_. I have a problem with the _other_ thing…" Sakura looked as confused as Lee probably would have been, except Lee had at some point in the past thirty seconds gotten involved in the boy's card game. He was helping Colten out and Cody quickly began complaining about the turn of events.

"Nana, Lee-kun's counting cards!"

Lee said reasonably, "If there are only four of each type of card, and keeping track of which has been thrown will aid you in winning the round, then logically that is what you would want to do. Resorting to blind luck would be foolish if you can methodize a win."

Naruto grinned as his friends and kids all gaped at the green-clad boy. He'd always known there was more to Lee than just a handful of hugs and paragraphs about springtime.

Lee blushed at the attention. "This is what Neji-kun has been teaching me…" he said in excuse.

The door to the dining room opened and Fuyumi bounced in on hyperactive toes. "Announcing, Lady Hinata Hyuuga, heir to the Hyuuga clan, and date of…" she stopped talking when she saw Naruto. Her jaw dropped and her green eyes swept up and down his form. She swallowed hard and said, "Oh my god. Do you _realize_ what this _means_?"

Naruto was sure he wasn't the only one who was completely lost. He shook his head since apparently no one else could form a response to the hyper girl.

Fuyumi shrieked, "You're going to be molested! People are going to look at you and think you're the sex god on earth! Hell, _I'm_ starting to believe it myself! Those eyes aren't natural!"

Ino shoved by Fuyumi into the room saying, "Why are you standing in the door—" she trailed off as she saw Naruto. He blinked. Was he really that good looking? Heavens forbid he _ever_ use what he learned at the S-IF mastery school… there wouldn't be a dry pair of pants for miles! "I…" Ino began, then attempted to wet her lips and start over. She barely managed a withered squeak before rounding on Sakura. "You could have warned us!"

Sakura looked from Naruto to Ino and Fuyumi in confusion. "I'll admit he's good looking, but I really think you guys are overdoing it."

Ten-Ten growled and shoved her way into the room, dragging Hinata with her. Hinata looked a bit frazzled (though her appearance was nothing short of edible—god, now his head was in the wrong place, dumb girls). Ten-Ten took a look at Naruto and smirked, winking at him, but she had no outburst to speak of.

Hinata was dressed magnificently in a gown made of a combination of black silk and black velvet. The velvet made up the skirt which hung to her knees and with several layers of ruffled cloth beneath, it formed a neatly shaped bell. The silk covered her chest in a v-neck, proving to the world that Hinata Hyuuga had breasts and in turn, very eye-catching cleavage. He was trying not to look as his face lit up like the sun.

The girls had done her long hair up, leaving the two long clumps that usually framed her face to hang down. Her make-up wasn't over the top (he liked it when girls didn't stamp their face with white powder) and the shoes they'd noticed would match her dress in a vendor's stand on the way back were cute on her small feet (and a perfect fit, which could only mean that Neji's fate thing really did exist) but conventionally low heeled so she wouldn't turn a heel in the desert. Silk gloves ran the length of her arms and a sash was knotted similarly on her side just like his.

He was thoroughly impressed, but once more he reached a stunning conclusion. In a rather loud and accusatory voice, he pointed at the girl who was to be his date and shouted, "YOU REALLY _ARE_ A GIRL?!" How come he always forgot that? He did know she was a girl, but for some reason it was so easy to overlook that fact.

Hinata finally looked up at him at the accusation, briefly looking hurt before fainting for the millionth time that day. Ten-Ten caught her as Naruto had to endure getting beat up by Sakura, Ino, _and_ Fuyumi.

xXx

"What are you doing up there?"

Kagome glanced down as Itachi's voice drifted up to her from the balcony. "Sitting here," she told the handsome ex-leaf-nin. He looked at her in disbelief before climbing up to join her on the roof with ease. He sat down next to her and turned his eyes onto the view.

She liked the view from up on the roof of Gaara's house. It seemed to be where she spent much of her time since the arrival of the foreign dignitaries. There was really nothing pleasant about the old geezers. She'd been hard-pressed to keep herself from Summoning Avei and Kotor, because while she really _could_ do it, she knew she was better off _not_ doing it until she had her links, Koumaberu, and the Shikon back. The more she Summoned, the more chance there was for Sesshoumaru to pop in for a surprise visit.

If she wasn't Summoning, he generally spent more time in his world. As the son of a king, he had a lot of duties he had to attend to, and while he was in his world he also sought out allies for her to Summon. Those allies were her Level Two Summons and bringing them into her world required their link, which the snake man had.

It wasn't at all a good thing that she lost those. Losing them would make Sesshoumaru _very_ angry if he ever found out. She'd been lucky so far that he hadn't popped in for a visit. She could go several _months_ without seeing him unless she Summoned him. But she had a feeling that luck was going to run out very soon and it left a sick and apprehensive feeling in her gut.

She wanted to blame Kabuto for leaving the things there, but in the end she only had herself to blame. If she weren't so weak, she wouldn't have fallen unconscious or even let herself get hit.

Kagome shivered a bit, though the weather outside had nothing to do with her chill. There was also the issue of the Shikon no Tama. It had been bad enough when the King had found out it was broken. Now that it was _gone_, things would be worse if it was found out.

"You're upset," Itachi said, stating the obvious.

Kagome brought her knees up and hugged them, locking her eyes on the distant sight of sparkling water. "I'm fine," she lied though it wasn't convincing and she knew it wasn't. "Really, I am," she tried again. She winced at how fake she sounded and gave up trying to convince herself and him.

Itachi sighed and ran a slightly impatient hand through his hair. He was usually very patient, but the mess they were in was causing tempers in even the most level-headed of people. "I know the current arrangements are not favorable," he began and her temperament twisted instantly from worry to annoyance.

"Of course they're not!" she grumbled. "You're sleeping on my bedroom floor and I can't leave this stupid house without you or Kabuto or Gaara with me—and you three are _always_ gone to talk to this person or that person or work on this or that, and I'm never allowed to go along. My own home isn't safe for me, my sister is crazy, and Ino-san and Fuyumi-san keep inviting me to go out to eat lunch but _you_ won't let me go. Should I be happy?"

Itachi frowned at her but he didn't respond. He probably knew no matter what he said she'd be mad still. She knew it was for her own protection that he didn't let her go, but it still had her on edge. She'd been cooped up for two weeks.

"See? If you were me, you'd be upset too!" Kagome declared, knowing full-well she was right. Itachi liked being busy, and if no one kept him busy he would _find_ work to do because that was just the type of person he was. He was constantly on the move, multi-tasking everything he did.

"It is for your safety," Itachi told her.

"Yeah, yeah, I _know_," she grumbled. "And I really don't care to wind up in the slave pens, and I _know_ I'm not strong like Kikyou. But if I have to listen to another crotchety old fart tell me how much better _their_ country is, or how _they_ would not harbor and protect Summoners for very much longer, I'm going to break something!" She threw her hands in the air to emphasize her irritation. "I was _this_ close to Summoning today! I could barely stop myself!"

Itachi was silent beside her before he turned to look at her with a curious expression on his face. "Would you like to come along as I leave the city tonight with Kabuto? We will not be doing anything interesting, but it would get you out of the city for a short time."

Kagome turned to stare at Itachi in disbelief. At last she fully registered his words and she squealed happily. "YES!" Getting out would be a very nice change. "Where are we going? What are we doing?"

"Walking," he told her with a raised brow. "There is a dead carcass a few miles north of the city. Kabuto wishes to examine it." Her shoulders slumped and she stared at the leader of Akatsuki with a blank expression on her face. Of all the things… "It may prove beneficial to you to come. Kabuto may need a hand dissecting the carcass, and he has already informed me my use stops after death."

Kagome glared at the older man. "You're an evil, evil man," she told him. Her words elicited a smirk from him. She let out a resigned sigh. It wasn't her ideal way to spend her evening, but it was better than doing nothing. "I'll go get ready," she told him. At least he'd said 'carcass'. Itachi was specific in his definition of carcass versus corpse. Carcass meant dead animal. Corpse meant dead person. She didn't like seeing dead people, whether or not she'd been trained as a healer.

After she'd climbed down onto the balcony and entered her room, she saw Kabuto was waiting for her. She cast him a baleful glare as she figured out what sort of trick had just been played. "You guys planned this, didn't you?" she accused Kabuto. Her only response was a smirk and a long finger pushing glasses up a long nose. Curse Kabuto and his insatiable curiosity for all-things-medical.

She took back her previous thought that Kabuto and Itachi were both sane. No, they were crazy. In their own ways, they were as crazy and demented as Sasori, Kisame, and Deidara.

xXx

Before they could leave the house, Sakura and Ino pulled Fuyumi aside while Naruto ran upstairs quick to check one last time on the kids. It was cute how he worried about them even when they were safely tucked away in their beds.

"Hey! What gives?" Fuyumi demanded irritably.

Ino said seriously, "You _have_ to promise you're _not_ going to spike the drinks!"

Fuyumi rolled her eyes and took her flask from her flak vest. She lowered her voice and said, "I'll only be drinking from this anyway—why would I?"

Sakura said, "We had to be sure, Fuyumi; this isn't going to be like your parties back home."

"Hey, just 'cause I do that at home doesn't mean I'm gonna do that here in enemy territory!" Fuyumi huffed, appearing a bit offended. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

Sakura sighed. "Not _everyone_ is an enemy, Fuyumi-chan. You _can_ let your hair down once in a while." It was a metaphor that went right over Fuyumi's head.

"None of these bitches are gonna see me without my hair braided!" She growled. Then she paused and mentally reflected on something. She nodded as if in agreement with her thoughts. "Though I do think it'd be amusing to see Gaara-kun drunk." She turned eager green eyes on the pair of them. "Can I at _least_ spike _his_ drink? I've got a camera; if I got pictures…" she snickered. "I wouldn't need my brother's money anymore."

"No!" Sakura and Ino said in unison. Neither of them knew how Gaara might react to being drunk and with a homicidal demon sealed in him, neither really wanted to find out.

Fuyumi's lips threw out in a pout again. "You guys aren't fair."

Naruto bounced back down the stairs and Sakura saw he was trying to hide a hurt expression. She hoped he wasn't in a whole lot of pain, but he adamantly refused to take medicine of any kind to kill the pain. "We need to get going, or we'll be late." Sakura said to Naruto.

Naruto glanced at Ino and Ten-Ten with a smile. "Thanks for staying here tonight guys. If you want to, there're lots of extra bunks in the bunk room, or else you can make yourself comfortable on the couches."

"It's _not_ a problem, Naruto," Ino said, grinning at him.

Ten-Ten giggled, "We won't wait up for you, mother," she teased him playfully.

Naruto stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. "Well fine, if you wanna make fun of me, you go right ahead!"

Terrence elbowed Naruto. "Stop acting like a drama queen, Nana," he said. "Get going. And _try_ not to shove your foot down your throat."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the boy and surprised Sakura by holding his arm out to Hinata like a true gentleman would (though the childish tongue act put a damper on the sudden manners, making it seem far less out of place). "Ready to go, Hinata-chan?" he asked her.

She blushed and nodded, resting her arm lightly on his.

"Ya know, I always wanted to lead a parade," Naruto said abruptly as they left the house. Lee and Sasuke were going as Naruto's guard; Fuyumi and Sakura were going as the two boys' dates so that Naruto would have medics on hand if he required them. None of the four were dressed up in anything except their usual attire, but on a whim Sakura did decide to clip the hair piece from Lee to her forehead protector. The pink heart glittered against the black cloth.

Fuyumi said, "Hey, Naruto, where'd you take off to with Hinata-chan earlier?"

"Ah, we just went to the tailor's," Naruto said in an off-hand manner, though Sakura would have bet anything it was more than just that with how flushed Hinata was looking. He better not have been perverted, Sakura thought as her inner demon cracked its knuckles.

"If you _just_ went to the tailor's," Sasuke said coldly, "you needn't have taken off running."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke with a perverted look in his eye that was quickly becoming familiar. "I didn't know you wanted to see me in my underwear so bad, Sasy-chan!" he snickered.

Sasuke flushed in embarrassment and snapped, "And go blind? No thanks."

Naruto whispered in a not-so-quiet voice to Hinata, "He's jealous of you, Hinata-chan." Sasuke began fuming. "He wishes _he_ was my date." Hinata blushed. Seconds later, Naruto was being chased down the street—cackling insults at his best friend and teammate—and the others were left in the dust.

"Wait up, Nana!" Frankie shouted, and the five Genin took off at a surprising speed, already knowing how to get to their destination.

Sakura sighed. "Okay, Fuyumi-chan, do you have the map?"

Fuyumi pulled it out of her vest. "You know, I find it highly offensive that you can't even look at me." Fuyumi snapped at Lee.

Lee blushed. "It is highly inappropriate to stare at an unclothed woman."

"I AM DRESSED!" Fuyumi yelled.

"Much of your chest is visible, your midriff is bare, and your skirt does not cover your legs." Lee pointed out.

Sakura slapped her forehead. She really hoped taking Fuyumi didn't turn out to be a mistake, but the girl was edgy and needed a change, and the only change Sakura could think of was to take her to the gathering. She didn't know _why_ Tsunade even sent the girl to Suna, since Fuyumi was nothing but a disaster bound to happen.

However, Lee _wasn't_ lying about Fuyumi's so-called clothes. On any other girl, Fuyumi's top would be considered a bikini top, and her mini-skirt was _very_ 'mini'. To top that off, her flak vest only went as far as the bottom of her ribs. Fuyumi's outfit was highly unconventional, as the flak vest was generally there to further protect one's internal organs from damage.

Fuyumi often complained about her 'nii-san' complaining about her clothes or lack thereof. Interestingly enough, Fuyumi had never mentioned _who_ her older brother was, just that he appeared to take guardianship of her after the death of her mother, and he and Fuyumi never agreed on anything. That apparently led to the two having a great deal of arguments, and both were too stubborn to let the other win.

"Here's where we are," Fuyumi said, pointing to an intersection on the map. Lee, Hinata, and Sakura all peered at the map, watching Fuyumi's finger as it moved across the parchment and stopped several blocks away. "Here's Kazekage tower." Again she moved her finger to another point on the map. "Here's the Kazekage's house."

"Where is Sasuke's hotel?" Sakura asked curiously.

Fuyumi shrugged. "I don't know."

Lee chirped, "Sasuke-kun is staying here at the Dead Bird," pointing at a place on the map.

"This town has some really dumb hotel names," Fuyumi bit out. "I walked past one called the Poisoned Apple the other day. Really, who would stay at a place like that?"

Sakura shared a look with Hinata as Lee actually contemplated that. Sakura said, "So where are we going?" The 'Dead Bird' sounded like it would be a cheaper kind of hotel, and Kakashi never was one to spend a whole lot on travel lodging.

"We're going to Grand Lady Felwin's manor, right here." She pointed to a place on the map not too far from Gaara's house. "It'll be quicker to get there if we go this way and then turn up this street."

"Indeed," Lee said calculatingly, "We could save at least six minutes if we traveled Fuyumi-san's suggested route."

"I knew it!" Fuyumi shouted at him. "You _were_ raised by machines!"

Lee blinked at Fuyumi and then asked quietly, "How did you know?"

The girls were stunned into silence before Hinata began to giggle helplessly. Fuyumi and Sakura shortly joined in laughing. "Lee, that's a good one!" Sakura said. "I didn't know you joked!" Lee blushed.

xXx

Thirty minutes later, Naruto was pacing nervously outside the front gate to the ridiculously large desert manor of the clan matriarch Lady Felwin. "We shouldn't have taken off," Naruto mumbled, worried about where the others were. The walk didn't take much more than fifteen minutes, so what was the hold-up?

"They've got Sakura with them, Nana," Frankie said reassuringly. "They'll be alright even if the nabbers _do_ try to get them."

Sasuke said to Frankie, "Hey, Frankie. Why don't you go in and find your teammates?" Only the heavens knew why Sasuke let himself bother to be tolerant of these brats. He didn't really like them at all. Vvim was a true monster and didn't like Sasuke much, but since she didn't bite him (like she apparently bit others) he assumed she would tolerate him and he could be tolerant of her. Others he would be more tolerant of. Jordan was easily pleased (a pat on the head made him happy), and Frankie wasn't half as annoying as her sisters Jaq or Carin.

"But Sasuke," Frankie complained, "I don't really _like_ them." Another reason to not-quite-hate Frankie. Sasuke had met her teammates and found himself utterly surprised they even were allowed to _enter_ the Chunin exams, much less passed the written portion. Frankie was probably giving them a free ride through, but they'd fall out in the prelims (if they didn't cause Frankie to fail the physical trials).

"Then find your Jounin-sensei, or Cody or something. I'll stay out here with Naruto." Sasuke insisted.

"Fine," Frankie pouted. She barreled into Naruto, hugging him tight before racing inside. "See you in a bit!"

Naruto watched her go in before returning to pacing. Sasuke asked, "What did you tell these kids about Sakura?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not much, why?" He seemed to shrug off a lot of questions lately, but Sasuke couldn't exactly condemn him for it considering he did it himself.

"I don't know if you noticed, but they all idolize her like she's some kind of god. Vvim especially adores her." Vvim even dressed similar to Sakura. If they started chattering about springtime and randomly hugging and sobbing in public, Sasuke swore he would vomit.

Naruto shrugged. "I didn't notice."

"You might have if you took the damn bandage off your eye." Sasuke told him.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "You know I can't do that." Can't, or won't? It was a whole different world when those words were switched—and Sasuke believed they should be switched.

"They're your friends. It's like you told me; they'll accept you, you just have to give them the chance."

Naruto shook his head. "I can't do it."

"You know… you can't run from it forever." Sasuke told him. "They're going to find out sooner or later. You're going to have to decide what's worse: finding out _from you_ or from an outside source."

"It's a forbidden topic," Naruto insisted. "I'm the only one who can tell someone!"

"The reason it was forbidden was to keep you from finding out!" Sasuke said, raising his voice a bit. "Since you know, that reason is now null-and-void. If you having knowledge of it spread, you can bet your ass people are going to start talking!"

"Talking about what?" Sakura asked as she and the others approached.

Naruto burst out, "Where've you guys been? This thing started ten minutes ago!" Sasuke didn't fail to notice the abrupt change of subject. Sasuke looked at his idiotic friend and realized at last how scared Naruto was to reveal the secret of Kyuubi.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun," Fuyumi said, "but Hinata-chan made us detour."

Naruto looked about to say something, but Sakura suddenly panicked. "Naruto, _GET MOVING!_ You should have gone in without us! How will it look when Konoha shows up late or never even makes an appearance to any event?!"

"That wasn't my fault!" Naruto insisted as Sakura shoved him forward and half-dragged Hinata.

"Sasuke, let's go!" Sakura snapped. Sasuke sighed internally and followed, reminding himself this was the only way to get out of 'training' with Itachi. He _really_ didn't feel like trekking several miles in the dark to go examine some dead animal carcass with Itachi (and surprisingly Kabuto—he hadn't even known Kabuto was still alive until a few days ago).

Fuyumi and Lee fell in step with him. Sasuke glanced at Kakashi's younger sister. It was still astonishing that Kakashi even _had_ a sister but she was _far_ more likeable than Kakashi (in Sasuke's opinion). Sasuke and Fuyumi had become regular sparring partners over the last two weeks, though it was more of a mild workout than a real spar since they didn't want anyone who might be watching them to see their techniques and potentially copy them.

He was so happy to be off of probation. He'd felt naked without weapons all the time. "Fuyumi," he said, attracting her attention.

Green eyes turned to him and she said, "What?" drawing the word out longer than was absolutely necessary.

"Kakashi-sensei is on his way to examine the dead animal." It was amazing she hadn't figured out 'Kakashi' was not really her brother, but only until he remembered she only even _met_ Kakashi when her mother died. Sasuke had known Kakashi longer than she had.

Lee glanced at the two of them. "What dead animal? Why would Kakashi-san go to examine such?"

Fuyumi grinned and rolled her shoulders. "How long do I have, Sasuke?"

"It's quite a distance away; if I have a guess, you might have until noon tomorrow when he returns but that's probably pushing it." Not that it really mattered much, as Itachi didn't give a damn what Fuyumi did. In fact, Itachi had admitted to being completely ill at ease whenever he saw Fuyumi for whatever reason.

"Until noon for what?" Lee questioned curiously.

"Never _mind_ Lee," Fuyumi said. "So you want to make a wager, Sasuke?" Fuyumi had a bright, excited look in her eyes, bordering on slightly feverish and completely reckless.

Lee sighed and trotted ahead to enter the manor with the others. Sasuke grabbed Fuyumi's wrist, looking at the time. "Okay, I'm betting you get it done by three AM."

She threw her lip out in a pout. "You're not supposed to bet that I can do it!"

"I'm betting on the timeframe; I _do_ want at least a small chance to win the wager." Sasuke was being reasonable. He hadn't known her for very long, but he did know she wouldn't fail. "Unless…" he glanced at her wryly, "…unless you don't think you _can_ do it by three."

She puffed out her considerable chest. "Midnight it is!"

Sasuke chuckled. "The stakes are two-to-one. If you don't get it done by midnight, you pay me double the usual bet." He _loved_ gambling on Fuyumi. Ordinarily, they'd double-team some hapless shinobi in the training grounds here in Suna. Fuyumi and Sasuke would 'spar' while someone else was there—with Fuyumi throwing the match in Sasuke's favor (not that he couldn't win if he wanted to)—and they'd piss off the other person, then make a bet that "they couldn't even beat a _girl_" which _always_ sparked a fight.

Sasuke would take bets from others in the training grounds, Fuyumi would get to relieve some stress at being cooped up in the desert by beating some guy senseless, and the two of them would make some money they could split fifty-fifty. Fuyumi was pure _gold_ that way, because she could put out a real show for "helpless kunoichi". It was _all_ profit once they got past the first bet.

Fuyumi clapped a kid-gloved hand on Sasuke's shoulder with a grin. "Ha! You're _on_, boy. Don't get too upset when I win." God, Kakashi was _so_ lucky to have a sister like her. Sasuke didn't understand why Kakashi didn't like her. Maybe if he talked to Kakashi, they could switch siblings? "So what did you _do_ to that poor animal, anyway?" she asked.

xXx

Naruto's jaw dropped as they were shown into the house. He could hardly take in everything at once, but the manor was definitely a _far_ cry from his incredibly humbled orphan house. Even the entryway had vaulted ceilings and giant pillars to support the wide open space. Decorative vases and portraits and tapestries and rugs from all over the world added color to the place.

They were led to a huge chamber with an even higher ceiling than the entryway. Naruto had been in noble people's houses before, but nothing had ever seemed so extravagant as this. Servants wearing white and gray uniforms mingled among the shinobi and kunoichi to offer drinks. The ceiling was a giant glass dome, showing the brightening stars.

_Great. Wake me up if you need me._ Kyuubi moaned. _I hate these stupid things._

Naruto didn't respond. It was alright with him if his tenant went to sleep for a while. He could have a good time without the running commentary. "Hey, Sakura-chan, how come I never got to go to the social gathering after our Chunin exam?" Naruto asked the girl.

She snorted. "None of us did. Kakashi-sensei didn't tell us there was one because if we went, _he'd_ have to go. You know, with the extent he goes to just to avoid things, it'd be a lot simpler if he just went!" She nudged him toward Hinata. "Now take Hinata-chan and go greet Gaara-san."

"I don't want to go over by him," Naruto said. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him in a glare that promised serious pain if he didn't do his job. Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and led her toward Gaara and the well-dressed ambassadors.

Gaara noticed his approach immediately and gave him a chilly look. "Hello, Uzumaki-san," he said, glancing briefly at Hinata. Hinata gulped slightly. "Hyuuga-san," Gaara said, greeting her as well. He was acting very formal, but Naruto was sure it had nothing to do with the occasion. If it had to do with the occasion, he would've said 'Uzumaki-sama' as Naruto was the acting ambassador. Gaara's choice of formality was purposeful. He was angry.

"Kazekage-sama," Hinata said respectfully. She bowed to Gaara.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, if you think I'm gonna bow down at your feet and chirp 'Kazekage-sama' all night, you're fucking nuts, Gaara." Gaara's eyes flashed with irritation. "Quit being pissy at me 'cause of this morning." The other ambassadors were looking curiously between the two of them. "We'll talk about it later."

After a moment of pause, the ambassador from Grass country said, "And are we to presume you are the Konohagakure ambassador?" Naruto quickly recalled they hadn't met him yet.

He nodded. "Naruto Uzumaki; future Hokage!" he said to introduce himself, grinning broadly. He slipped his hand around Hinata's waist and pulled her to his side, determining not for the first time that day that she could definitely use a few more pounds. He swore he felt ribs there, and there was no reason they should be that obvious. "And this lovely lady is Hinata Hyuuga, future leader of the Hyuuga clan!" Hinata blushed (he was starting to really like her blush).

"H-how do you do?" Hinata said in a light greeting to the others.

The ambassador from Rock country frowned and adjusted his forehead protector. "Hysin Gobi, leader of the—"

Naruto didn't give him a chance to finish. He cut in with a grin, "I know who you are. We're acquainted, you and me," his eyes danced with the mischief he was feeling at the moment. Gaara's anger was quickly receding, which was definitely a good thing. Later on, he would tell Gaara he could still see Vvim. Thinking back on what he'd said, he thought he might have been a little harsh on both Gaara _and_ Vvim. But Vvim still wouldn't be going to Kazekage tower anymore…

Hysin's frown deepened. "And how, pray tell, are we acquainted, Uzumaki-sama?"

Naruto licked his lips and glanced around at his awaiting audience. All of the ambassadors and their dates were present. Even Gaara had a date, though the girl looked just about ready to bolt. "Don't you remember throwing me in your dungeon?" Hysin looked confused; everyone else looked intrigued. Naruto shrugged. "I know, I know… I don't look the same. I was shorter, skinnier, had gray eyes, and white-blond hair."

Hysin suddenly seemed to know who he was talking about. "_You_ are the thief?" he growled.

Naruto snickered. "Yeah… next time you throw someone in the dungeon to die… maybe you should think about making sure they're _in_ the dungeon."

"You _were_."

"Yeah well… locks don't like to stay locked around me. But I'm _sure_ you found the scroll I stole by now. I mean it _has_ been a full year. I didn't actually keep it since I was only stealing it 'cause I was bored." From the purple look on Hysin's face, he guessed the man hadn't. "Try looking in the last place you'd ever think to look." Hysin glared at him. "But don't take it personal. Things just sort of… end up in my hands."

He removed his hand from Hinata's waist and held up a coin purse. "That's _mine_." The Grass country ambassador said irritably.

"How do you know it isn't _Hinata-chan's_?" Naruto asked reasonably. "Hinata-chan… did my hand ever leave your waist?" She shook her head.

"You have two ha—" Mist country's ambassador said and Naruto held up his very bulky non-useable broken hand in a cast.

"How did you do that?" Gaara inquired.

"Chakra," Hysin's date (and most likely wife) insisted. "It has to be."

Naruto shook his head. "A _true_ magician doesn't reveal his secrets!" It was one of those pre-arranged tricks. The Grass country ambassador was on his left and his left hand was broken. Hinata was on his right. He picked the pocket _before_ putting his hand on her waist. He tossed the wallet back and the man immediately shifted through it. "It's all there."

Now the question was _why_ did he do it? And why did he admit he was Ashe to Hysin? None of them looked condemning of Naruto stealing. It would be rather hypocritical if they were, because all of them were trained in rather underhanded methods. That was why they were ninja and not ordinary soldiers.

He supposed if he thought about it, he did it because he felt uncomfortable with a bunch of noble people and their wives-and-or-dates. There he was, even less than a table scrap to them because not only was he a commoner but he was also an orphan. He wasn't used to formal situations; he'd been _trained_ to know what to _do_, but it was still different.

And still thinking about that, he knew it wasn't true. He forced down a blush as he glanced at Hinata's finally relaxed face. She appeared much more comfortable now, and she even smiled encouragingly at him. Oh man… he was doing it to impress a girl. That was just the cold, hard truth.

He grinned back at her; at least for once, he was doing something right (if not the ambassador part—being all noble and stuff—he was succeeding at impressing her!). "So! Hinata-chan, do you want to go dance?" he asked as he realized a small orchestra was playing music. Hinata blushed cutely; he beamed at the stuffy ambassadors. "Let me know when the Zodiac ambassador shows! I want to say hi to her!"

With that, he tugged Hinata toward an open space on the floor. Hinata was a bit self-conscious at first, probably cause they were the only ones dancing, but as long as she didn't faint he supposed it was okay. He didn't want to be yelled at for causing her illness to act up again.

"You really do look pretty, Hinata-chan," he told her as she rested one hand on his shoulder and they got ready to dance.

"T-Thank you, Naruto-kun. I-It means a-a lot to hear t-that," she stammered with pinked cheeks. He began to lead the dance, and he definitely received some queer looks. They _both_ did, for being the only ones dancing, but he didn't see a reason to have music if no one was going to dance! People began to shift, creating a wider space for them to dance in. Hinata seemed to be pretending no one was watching.

Or trying to pretend. It was hard to ignore when the curious whispers began to outdo the music.

"So what was the detour about?" He asked her.

Hinata flushed and her hand gripped his shoulder a bit tighter. "I had to keep a promise," she said firmly. Her voice was unwavering, and she didn't stammer. It was surprising to hear her that way.

He tilted his head, bringing his lips close to her ear to whisper, "Thank you." He was glad she took him seriously. That area was too dangerous for _any_ of his friends.

She shivered slightly and he pulled back to spin her as the dance required, then with a tug on her arm she neatly spun back to rest her back against his chest. He noticed how looking out at their crowd caused her to blush so bad the pink even went down to her chest. He had to force himself to look away, but he was grinning all the same as they continued to dance.

Hinata's breasts even blushed (he could tell because of the v-neck in her dress). That was so adorable! It really was too bad she was a noble. It would be difficult enough to find a commoner to date (if he ever managed it) but convincing _her_ dad to even _think_ of letting them date would be impossible. Not that he was considering it, of course! Hinata was too sweet for a guy like him.

Aw hell, he had to be honest with himself. Her father could go to hell if Hinata would date him for all Naruto cared. But then he had to remember Hinata would never go for a guy like him. Maybe his sleight-of-hand trick had impressed her, but that was because they were friends—and that was all their relationship would ever amount to.

It was just like Ino and Sakura had told him. Hinata was doing him a mega favor by being his date on such short notice.

At the end of the dance, Hinata ended up in his arms, her chest heaving as she panted. She wouldn't look at him… again. He was beginning to notice all the times she wouldn't look at him. She didn't know about Kyuubi, did she? If she did, then she probably averted her eyes because she couldn't stand to look at him. If she did, then there was _no_ way she'd ever go for a guy like him.

* * *

**So, so very popular...! **cimron (why am I practicing patience? Oh, 'cause of my spastic tendency to update! I get it!), Dan Curtis (oh my god, you're reading... that's amazing), liltwilightkit, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Gaara's date is some random chick Temari forced to go), supersillee06 (Negotiations are now complete, and I don't write lemons because I can't read them--does that make sense?), Dark Inu Fan (Seems like longer), Akina no Hashiriya (he's trying not to think of it), yumeniai (he will--if all goes according to plan), Arcander (she didn't have it yet, but now she does), DarkRavie, loki09 aka ttre208 (sorry for not popping the pimple...), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 54 after I posted chapter 55.

ANSWER: A nice long chapter deserves a nice long review, don't you agree?

_Try the band "Mythos". Also try reviewing... I hear its very therapeutic..._


	57. Cleo's Devious Plot

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter 57: Cleo's Devious Plot

Naruto led Hinata through the crowd to where he could see Sasuke. His best friend looked like he would love nothing more than to leave, but Naruto felt absolutely no sympathy for Sasuke. He didn't have to come, after all. He could very easily have just stayed behind. Lee was really all Naruto needed for a guard (well, he really didn't need a guard, but Sakura was very insistent on following proper protocol), since it was highly unlikely anything was going to happen anyway.

"Hey!" Naruto greeted Sasuke.

Sasuke looked up from his glass of wine and frowned. "I asked for hard liquor and this is what I get. Some fruity glass of air…"

Naruto grinned and took Sasuke's cup, drinking the liquid in two big gulps. When it was gone, he handed the cup back. "Now you have a glass of air." He said, to which Hinata giggled almost soundlessly.

"Ass." Sasuke grumbled. "Now I have to get another glass."

Naruto nodded his head in mock sympathy. "Oh, I know… that means you might have to actually talk to someone! How terrible."

"Hit him for me," Sasuke told Hinata.

Naruto slipped his hand around Hinata's shoulders with a grin. "Hinata-chan's too nice to hit me." Naruto glanced around for Sakura and Lee. "So, where's Sakura-chan? I wanna dance with her too."

"She and Lee are over there," Sasuke said, jutting his chin toward where Sakura and Lee were deep in conversation several feet away. The two were far enough that the noise of the gathering wouldn't allow for eavesdropping.

"So you got stuck with Fuyumi-chan?" Naruto asked, to which the green-haired girl glared at him. "Ha-ha, I'm kidding," he laughed nervously. "I'd love to dance with you, Fuyumi-chan, wanna dance? Huh?"

"Naruto-kun!" Fuyumi chirped as she seemed to no longer be irritated, grabbing Naruto's arm in excitement. "You just have to take me to Gaara-kun. I don't want to go by myself!" He winced as she tugged his arm again.

Naruto blinked at the hyper girl. "Okay," he said, wondering who put caffeine in Fuyumi's flask. She was bouncing on her heels and definitely did not look like a serious Jounin at the moment, though he had yet to see her as one in the first place. "I'll be right back," he assured Hinata, though he wasn't sure why he felt he had to assure her.

He navigated the crowd, trying to find Gaara. It wasn't too hard. He and the other ambassadors were right where he'd left them.

xXx

"It is rather unfortunate that the tax on glass being imported from Sunagakure is so high," said the Grass country ambassador. "Our country cannot continue to pay such high prices on such fragile products."

Gaara was getting ready to pop; he'd had a long, stress filled day and no opportunity to release said stress, and now he could already tell his night was going to be long, excruciatingly boring, and annoying. Annoying things always caused him stress.

"If that is the way your country feels, they can certainly switch to a more durable product made of wood, of which Grass has an abundance of." Gaara said a bit snappishly. Wood imported into Sunagakure was incredibly costly. "If you wish to negotiate the prices of glass products we export, you may speak to my aunt, Lady Felwin; she runs that portion of the economy and I am certain she would be very happy to hear whatever it is you have to say."

Silence fell around the ambassadors; they were all very tense around him.

As they should be, Shukaku whispered in his mind devilishly.

Gaara turned to scan the crowd for Naruto. He'd been keeping a close eye on the blond while he danced with the Hyuuga heir. When their dance finished, he'd watched as Naruto disappeared across the room, becoming invisible behind a wall of people meandering about the boring social.

"Kazekage-sama," Gaara turned his eyes to his nervous little date. She was small, feminine, and irritating. Her voice always sounded so submissive and as usual that grated on his nerves. "Here…" She offered him a glass of cherry colored liquid.

He was about to tell her 'no', he wouldn't drink her poison, when a hand darted out and accepted the glass. "Awesome, thanks." Naruto's annoying voice rang out in amusement. "I was parched!" Naruto downed the glass very fast. Gaara and the ambassadors turned their eyes on the boy.

Fuyumi was with him this time. Gaara forced his eyes to stay on Naruto. It wasn't hard; all he had to do was remind himself that Naruto took Vvim from him and then he wouldn't look away from his enemy.

"I think someone spiked the punch," Naruto commented lightly. "Tastes like red juice, but with a slight hint of a kick behind it." He grinned at the girl and then at Gaara. Gaara was already making a mental note to kill the girl after the event was over. "Gaara, this's Fuyumi."

At that, Gaara's eyes were practically forced on Fuyumi. He had been admittedly avoiding her since her arrival. He wasn't entirely certain why. He could just sense himself getting into a world of trouble with her around. "We are acquainted," Gaara said, and as her eyes lit up he realized that was the wrong thing to say.

"Sweet!" Naruto said, clearly ignoring Gaara. "hn'On did come!" Naruto dashed away without bothering with salutations.

Fuyumi smirked at Gaara and said with the most sincere tone of voice, "Excuse me, but I'm simply going to have to borrow Gaara-kun for a moment." She was saying it to the ambassadors but her eyes never left Gaara's. He could almost taste the trouble she was about to bring him.

He was going to refuse to go with her, but then he saw his sister across the room. Temari was narrowing her eyes at him, as if she knew what he wanted to do. Instead of risking his sister's wrath, he allowed Fuyumi to drag him away from the other ambassadors—and she literally dragged him by the arm. He felt like a little kid about to be scolded.

Finally Fuyumi turned to look at Gaara with a dangerous smile on her face. He found himself growing apprehensive. She was like the very worst combination of AngryKagome and AngryTemari, and Fuyumi didn't even seem angry. She seemed playful.

And he… liked it… Somehow that didn't seem right. He was attracted to danger… That was probably not good for his health.

xXx

When Naruto spotted his black friend, hn'On, he immediately set out to cross paths with her. Just like nearly all Zodiac-nin he'd ever met, hn'On was short and slightly heavy-set. hn'On wore a deer-skin skirt and a deer-skin vest. He supposed for the sake of convenience, she must have left her scythe in her hotel or something, because the pole-arm was nowhere to be seen.

When she saw him, her face lit up happily and she charged at him, nearly barreling him over with a hug. "Naa'uto!" she squealed, attracting attention from the people around them. She didn't speak common, so he knew those people around him wouldn't understand a word she said. "I told you I would see you again!"

He laughed and slipped his arms around her, hugging her in return even if he did get queer and questioning looks. He liked to be affectionate. He didn't really care what other people thought of it. "I never doubted you!" Naruto agreed, speaking fluently in her language. Jiraiya would smack him upside the head if he didn't speak the languages he knew fluently. Other languages were nearly the extent of useful things Jiraiya taught him on their training expedition.

"But you said it," hn'On told him. "You said, 'yeah, right', when I said we'd see each other again."

"I was agreeing with you!" Naruto said in defense.

"Yeah. Right," she rolled chocolate colored eyes before dragging him toward a large number of Zodiac-nin. He'd first met hn'On when he and Jiraiya were being chased by a large trap boulder. hn'On had jumped from a niche, cast one of her Shaman spells—which he understood to be similar to his chakra jutsus—that caused the boulder to literally stop in its tracks, and dragged Naruto and the toad hermit to the safety of the niche before the spell wore off and the boulder continued its dangerous descent.

"So who's the ambassador?" Naruto asked the girl. "I haven't met her yet."

"There," she said, tilting her head at a decorated older woman who Naruto recognized as a full-fledged Shaman. hn'On and all the other Zodiac-nin wore the same clothes: deer-skin skirt, deer-skin vest, and a blank forehead protector on their forehead, with various nin-kits attached to ankles, thighs, and hips. They all wore leather slippers, and a strip of brown silk wrapped behind their necks and under their arms to tie off in a bow behind them. The silk was a long strip, with twelve symbols embroidered on, each labeled with a different name.

The ambassador of the Zodiac-nin differed in many ways to those beneath her. Her inferiors hair was generally done in corn rolls, but the ambassador's long hair was braided into thousands of tiny braids that hung down below her ribs. Strips of tanned deer-hide and feathers were braided into her hair. Her clothes were heavy, flowing robes made of deer-hide but dyed a bright color red.

Naruto wondered if the ambassador was very warm; he was wearing silk and he was fairly warm. Add to that how the Zodiac were used to very low temperatures year round, he thought this must be nearly unbearable for the Shaman. Stripes of colored paste, war paint he remembered it being called, decorated her face and neck.

She had the same brown silk tied around her as the other Zodiac-nin, and apart from that one she also had a vast multitude of other decorations signifying her power and worthiness of being a Shaman. Her staff alone showed how powerful she was with the heavy crystal mounted on its top; the crystals were used to enhance their Shaman magic.

Not only could he recognize her as a Shaman, but he knew her on a more personal level, as a trainer. She had taken him on as a student for a week when he got angry at her for saying he shouldn't be carrying a weapon because he was a male. She told him he would have one week to prove himself to her or she would make sure he never lifted a blade again.

The technique he had to learn in that week was the Ýæn XII. Shaman hn'Cryn had been sure that Naruto would fail, but she obviously didn't know that Naruto seemed to learn the best under a time constraint and with a load of pressure over his head. It ended just like his bet with Tsunade had; at the very last moment, he managed to get the technique right.

Even still, he did have to admit the Ýæn XII was a far more complicated technique than the Rasengan was. As its title suggested, the technique had twelve steps to master whereas the Rasengan only had three. Aside from the obvious increase in steps necessary to master, Naruto had been working on the Rasengan for quite some time before he met Tsunade, so he'd had more time to get it right. If he didn't know Kage Bunshin jutsu, he would have failed spectacularly at mastering the Ýæn XII in a week.

"Her?" Naruto groaned, not really liking the prospect of the next few months.

hn'On laughed. "Mother isn't so bad! She wants to marry us, you know."

"You know I love you, hn'On, but not enough to give up Hokage!" Naruto told her.

hn'On asked, "You're still on about that stupid dream? I'd have hoped you'd come to your senses by now. If you move to our village," she began, but he cut her off.

"I'd be forced to never fight again! I couldn't stand it. I'd grow fat and lazy and useless!" Naruto half-shrieked in terror. His dramatic acts attracted attention again.

"Well, sacrifices must be made, Naa'uto." She said. He made a face. "Come on, I'd be a great wife! And if you get bored of me, you'd have eight other wives at least."

He shuddered. "I don't know how you people can stand that. I can't even imagine myself with one wife; nine or more is inconceivable."

"Hmph, well, then you can tell mother 'no'. She'll beat you up."

Naruto spun on his heel, but hn'On caught him by the arm and simply began dragging him backwards. "No fair!" he whined, "I don't need any more people to beat me up today!"

They had reached Shaman hn'Cryn. Naruto turned to face the short, plump lady with a sheepish look on his face. Her expression remained dry and emotionless. "It welcomes seeing you, me Shaman young Naa'uto," she greeted him in horrible common.

He winced, "You don't have to speak common," he told her.

"So custom speaking traditional!" she insisted.

"Really," he told her, "you don't have to. And when I say this, I mean it with the greatest love in the world, but you suck at it."

She pursed her lips, but that was the only sign of emotion he got from her. She reverted to her native language after that. "You do not speak to me as my other Shaman Apprentices do."

"Well, I'm not your apprentice!" he said in his own defense.

She reached in her robes and pulled out a small package wrapped in tanned skin. "I have awaited your return for long months to give you this. You must finish your training to become Shaman like me." She told him. "You must return to our village to learn the ways of the Shaman."

He accepted the small gift with confusion. No one had ever simply offered to train him before. He always had to beg and plead to get any special training. Well, except for Iruka, who was more like what Naruto imagined a father would be like if he ever had one, and Iruka didn't count toward the general populace.

"I don't think I'll be able to get another training expedition in for a while," Naruto told Shaman hn'Cryn. "But thank you… it really means a lot, knowing you're willing to train me even though I'm a guy and that's against your culture…"

Shaman hn'Cryn snorted. "No," she said. "You are no man. You are woman with man body. When I have trained you to be Shaman, Ýæn will bless you and free you of the man's body, and you and my six daughters shall marry High Shaman's son."

Naruto couldn't help but make a face. "Um, no thank you…" he said and attempted to give the gift back. Shaman hn'Cryn's evil look stopped him and he accepted the gift, pulling it open to reveal a long strip of silk like that worn by all the Zodiac-nin, except his was white where theirs was brown. The embroidery was still the same with the twelve Zodiac symbols.

Naruto glanced at Shaman hn'Cryn in confusion. She took note of his expression and explained, "You learned the Ýæn XII. You earned it." The older woman glanced at her daughter. "You shall help Naa'uto to wear his Ýæn XII."

hn'On slipped the cloth from Naruto's fingers. Naruto couldn't keep from blushing like a ridiculous idiot as hn'On slipped the length of silk over his shoulders and then pulled the ends beneath his arms, tying it in a bow at the back.

"Can you still stretch?" hn'On asked.

Naruto arched his back. Years of practice seemed to help hn'On know just how tight to tie the bows, because it was perfect. He stood up straight again and rubbed his cheeks with his good hand, willing the blush to disperse.

"Thanks, I guess." He said to both of them.

Shaman hn'Cryn smiled. "You should be thanking yourself. It was not I who refused to accept the fate ordained by Ýæn. I was born a woman, therefore I know I must fight. You were born a man, yet you fight as strong as a woman. Ýæn will see you do many great things before your time in this world is up, child."

Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "Not with as much as I screw up at everything," he told her. She kept making reference to 'Ýæn'. Ýæn was the name of the god worshipped by the Zodiacs, though Naruto did not believe in that god. He believed in the Four Goddesses. Even though he didn't believe Ýæn had a plan for him, he wasn't going to contradict hn'Cryn's beliefs simply because their religions were different. Instead, he was reliant on the truth; it was completely true that Naruto wasn't likely to do very much good since he really screwed up more than he did well.

After all, his little girl ran off just that morning and he wouldn't be bothered to wake up—how much more proof of his own failure did he need beyond that fact? He forced himself to put that line of thinking away before it gummed up his night. Ten-Ten and Ino were at the house; everything was going to be okay.

She shrugged. "We shall indeed see what the future holds for you, and I will look forward to it. Now, who is ambassador for Leaf?"

Naruto pointed to himself, glad for the subject change. He beamed at her. "I told you when we met, I'm the future Hokage of Hidden Leaf! After this, it's just a matter of time 'till they stuff me in the robes and everyone knows who I am."

Shaman hn'Cryn smiled secretively before nodding. "Indeed." She agreed. "hn'On, you shall get us some drinks. We shall raise a glass to our dear friend from Leaf."

xXx

A few glasses of punch later and Naruto was absolutely positive the juice was spiked with something. He was beginning to feel a little bit light-headed, though it wasn't enough to make him call the night quits yet.

Naruto thanked the Zodiac-nin for their company and wished the Zodiac-nin luck on the physical trials before parting ways with them and going to seek out Sasuke and his other friends.

On the way, he bumped into Cleo and his team. Cleo licked his lips upon seeing Naruto. "My, oh my," was Cleo's greeting.

"Hey to you too," Naruto grumbled irritably as Cleo's eyes roved Naruto's figure. Cleo's fingers twitched. "Don't even think about touching me," he said.

Cleo's lips twisted wryly, "Aw, love, you know I wouldn't touch you without your consent… Have you tried the punch yet?"

Naruto pursed his lips. "I thought it was spiked, but now I know for sure."

Qm shoved her older teammate aside and placed a rather sloppily drunk kiss on Naruto's nose. "Naruko, you look funny!" she giggled before patting on his chest and pouting. "Aw, what happened to your breasts? You know I only like breasts!"

Naruto peeled the brown-eyed girl off him. "I'm a guy, Qm!" he told her.

"Noooo," she sang cheerfully. "Not all the time!"

Dy glared at Naruto with a firm expression on her face. "Naruto Uzumaki, you bumped my student! Prepare to die!"

Dodi rolled her eyes and gripped Dy's hand, dragging the older woman away saying, "Hey, Naru! Congrats on being ambassador."

Naruto felt his shoulders slump forward. "Thanks, Dodi," he said to the departing girl, both for keeping Dy off him and for the congratulations. The drunk-Qm attached herself to Naruto's arm and began petting his cast. "Is there something wrong with her?" Naruto asked Cleo.

Cleo laughed. "Other than being drunk, I don't think so. She might've been dropped on her head as a child, but I haven't got proof." Cleo grabbed a couple cups from a passing servant's serving tray, handing one to Naruto and keeping the other for himself. "So do you like the Blue Leaf Powder?"

"The what?" Naruto asked, not entirely sure he wanted to keep drinking since he was sure he knew Cleo's agenda. Even though he knew Cleo's goal, he was also pretty sure it would be safe to drink around the bunny, since Cleo had never before touched Naruto without prior consent—which was never. He made a lot of reference and definitely vocalized his intentions but he'd never crossed into Naruto's personal space…

Like Qm was doing… Naruto tried to shake the tipsy girl off him, but she didn't want to go.

"Blue Leaf." Cleo told him. "I snuck into the stores and tainted all their juice barrels." Cleo drank down his drink. Naruto lifted his eyebrows at the bunny and Cleo's eyes sparkled. "Drunk people reveal things they wouldn't otherwise."

"You're a terrible cheater," Naruto told Cleo.

"You're just jealous my hearing is ten times better than yours." Cleo shrugged.

"Well, not all drunks are blabbermouths," Naruto pointed out. "I'm not. I just talk a lot about useless things."

Cleo's lip twitched in amusement and his silver eyes glanced around the room at those unfortunate people who were drinking what they didn't know was spiked. "Even if they don't say something useful," Cleo said, "I may be lucky and some of them will simply be too hung-over tomorrow to show up for the physical trials."

Naruto smirked, "I'll admit, you got some real balls, Cleo," he said, raising his glass slightly before downing it. He tossed the empty glass at Cleo and the rabbit snatched it up. "But you're going to get your ass kicked by one of my kids, and you wanna know why?"

Cleo raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"You're gonna underestimate them, whichever one it is you come up against. And they're gonna hand you your ass."

Cleo smiled at the challenge. "I look forward to it. I only hope its that Colten boy. He's cute, has a foul mouth, and needs to learn a lesson in manners—just like someone else. Don't worry, Naruto… I'll give you yours soon enough."

Naruto shoved Qm off his arm and stepped close to Cleo, smirking up at the taller figure. "I look forward to it," he said before slipping around Cleo and altering his course to attempt to find his kids. Silver eyes followed him.

The five were standing in an out-of-the-way corner looking largely uncomfortable. Naruto's approach brought a bit of liveliness out of the five kids as they perked up. "Nana!" they all chirped and crowded around him.

He was instantly swamped with complaints—complaints about the gathering, complaints about the people, complaints about their teams, and complaints about how nasty the juice was.

Frankie whined, "I just want to go home!" Her siblings all agreed heartily with her.

Naruto laughed a bit. He supposed warning them about the juice wasn't necessary. They didn't like it. He glanced around. It didn't look like anyone except him had even noticed the small kick in the drink that wasn't supposed to be there ordinarily. There were a few people looking a bit tipsy, and everyone had a glass.

"Well, you guys talk to your Jounin-sensei," Naruto told them. "If they're okay with you leaving, then you guys can make your way home."

"Thanks, Nana," Jaq said in relief.

Naruto added, "Find me and let me know if you're going early, and kick anyone's ass if they try to stop you in the street. Okay? You leave together and don't separate for anything."

He received a chorus of 'yes, Sir' from the kids and they dispersed in separate directions. Naruto went back to find Sasuke and Hinata, but again he was stopped by people in his way. This time it was Fuyumi who pulled him aside.

"Naruto," she whined, "I'm thirsty!"

"So get a drink?" he suggested.

Fuyumi held up her flask. "My flask is empty though! I can't trust any of these bitches with it; they'd poison it and I'd die!"

"Has anyone told you you're excessively paranoid?" Naruto asked her. She glared at him so he looked around and located a server. He grabbed two glasses off the server's tray, holding one rather precariously between his cast and his chest, and returned to Fuyumi. "Okay, here," he said—though he wondered if it was safe to let her drink the spiked juice.

"I can't drink that!" she gasped. "Fucking poison!"

Naruto took a large swallow of both, then dumped the contents of one into the other. "There; full glass. If you die, I will too. I swear it's not poisoned."

Fuyumi looked skeptical and asked, "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Why are you even asking me?" Naruto asked her. "How come I have to be the one who gets you a drink?"

"Sakura-chan told me to ask you if I can leave early. She told me I can't, and the old hag said I have to follow Sakura-chan's orders in your absence or else I'll get in trouble." Fuyumi told Naruto.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Look, it's not poisoned. I've had several glasses of it already. Just take it and go. If Sakura says you can't go early, I'm not about to say you can, 'cause she'll beat me up."

"Chicken," Fuyumi pouted, but she took the glass and disappeared from him. He had no clue what to do with the empty glass so he found a server and gave it to them.

Finally he managed to get back to Sasuke and Hinata. It didn't look like either had moved since he left them. Sasuke was as still as a statue, and Hinata barely looked away from the floor. "Hey, guys!" Naruto told them.

Sasuke glared coldly at Naruto, though that was hardly anything out of the ordinary. "Way to disappear," Sasuke grumbled.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! I saw a lot of people I know." The world was starting to get a bit hazy rather than light-headed, and his own words seemed to suddenly be funny. He tried not to laugh, so the final result of it ended up being a half-snicker, half-snort.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke demanded.

"Nothing," he said honestly, but he was grinning foolishly.

He caught a glimpse of Sakura and Lee and decided to go make sure they were doing alright. When he came within hearing distance, he immediately turned around. They were sounding like talking text books. He wanted to say hello, not be put to sleep…

"Naruto-kun, a-are y-you okay?" Hinata asked as he approached them again.

Naruto nodded. "Sure I am." Sasuke huffed and snatched another glass from a nearby server. As Sasuke gulped it down, Naruto asked Hinata, "How many cups of punch has he had?"

"Um, I t-think that m-might b-be his eighth?" Hinata offered hesitantly.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but then Sasuke hiccupped and attempted to glare at Naruto. It ended up being a bit cross-eyed and then Sasuke said, "I have to pee." He stalked to the exit.

Naruto sighed. "I may as well go with him. Hinata-chan, can you bear to stand with Sakura-chan?"

Hinata nodded and Naruto took off after Sasuke. The two took to the streets to locate the nearby public restroom. It wasn't terribly far away. Naruto figured he may as well go since he was there anyway to make sure the somewhat drunk Sasuke wasn't nabbed.

When he was done, Sasuke was going to leave before he had a chance to fix his sash back on so he called, "Sasuke, wait," and the noise echoed through the empty public restroom.

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto as the blond came out of his stall. "What?" he asked.

Naruto held up his sash. "Do me a favor and tie this on? Only one hand… makes it kind of hard."

Sasuke scowled and stalked over. "Do I need to wipe your ass for you too?" he snapped, tying the sash on tight before fixing the creases. Naruto froze when he felt a hand on his back, but it was just Sasuke pulling the sash completely over the hem of his haori.

"Hold still," Sasuke grumbled.

Naruto turned to look at his friend. "I'm not moving," he told Sasuke.

"You just did!" Sasuke said.

Naruto bit back a retort. Sasuke fingered Naruto's Ýæn XII cloth, and Naruto had a feeling that his best friend wasn't just a 'little bit' drunk like he'd first assumed. Sasuke was simply better at not looking drunk than Naruto. However, Naruto could safely presume Sasuke's behavior was currently not something he'd ever act like sober.

"You weren't wearing this before," Sasuke breathed, still running his hand along the cloth.

Naruto was curious of Sasuke's behavior. He'd never been around a drunk Sasuke before. He wondered what sort of things Sasuke might say as a drunk. He decided to briefly indulge Sasuke's obvious curiosity in hopes that he might get something interesting out of Sasuke.

"No, I wasn't…" he agreed.

Sasuke slipped two fingers beneath the cloth and ran them along the backside, rubbing his thumb on the white silk. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's called the Ýæn XII sash. You get it if you master the Ýæn XII technique." Naruto reached his hand up and gripped Sasuke's, pulling it away from its current fascination. Naruto wondered briefly what he might ask Sasuke while the boy was drunk and his finger touched an 'x' shaped scar on the back of Sasuke's hand. "Who gave you these scars?" Naruto asked softly.

Sasuke met Naruto's eyes and smiled mysteriously. He shifted his body closer to Naruto's and brought his lips close to Naruto's ear. Naruto was surprised for a moment as he felt Sasuke's hot breath on his neck. Sasuke said lowly, "…I'm not that drunk…"

Naruto sighed and then followed Sasuke back to the party. Temari immediately swooped down on Naruto and dragged him to her younger brother. Gaara was looking more bored than ever. Naruto glanced at his watch. It wasn't even eleven yet.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but all he got for his effort was interruption. "Nana!" Carin cried as his three Genin-girls crowded him to hug him.

"Gak!" Naruto complained.

"We're headed home," Frankie said.

"Okay, okay. Are Cody and Colten heading with you?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know," Frankie said honestly.

"We are," Cody said as he and Colten joined the group, though the boys weren't so eager to join a giant group hug.

"Alright. Kick some ass if any nabbers come at you," Naruto told them.

"See you later, Nana," Frankie said. The words echoed through his kids before they took off.

Gaara gave Naruto a chilly expression. "Vvim," he said without procrastinating the subject. "You said we would talk about what happened."

Naruto frowned. "Fine, you want to talk? I said she's not going to the tower anymore, and I meant it." Naruto grabbed a glass from a nearby server and handed it to Gaara. "Have a drink, Gaara. It won't kill you. And if you want to see Vvim, then from now on you come to her. Because if anything happens to her, I'll tear this city to shreds to find the one who did it." Naruto wasn't bluffing about that. He would do it in a heartbeat, and he wasn't even sure if he'd keep his vow to not kill if someone hurt his little girl either.

Gaara smiled one of his rather demented smiles. "You are not the only one," he said simply, as if to agree with Naruto's terms. He looked at his glass as if it were poison.

Naruto's eye twitched. "You're as paranoid as Fuyumi." He said and snatched Gaara's cup. He took a drink of it and handed it back. "See? I'm not dead. Drink it."

"But," Gaara began.

Naruto ignored him and turned away, stalking across the room to find someone else to talk to. He ended up back with Cleo, which he didn't mind so much since Qm wasn't anywhere around. When he asked Cleo where the girl was, the bunny pointed to a place nearby where Qm was staring in complete and utter fascination at a busty Konohagakurian.

Without Qm around to leech onto him, and without Dy there to threaten Naruto's life for 'bumping her student', Naruto fell into a random conversation with Cleo that ranged from more talk about Cleo's homeland in Golgawood to talk about Naruto's recent rather unfortunate mishap with the inky-blobby creature no one else believed Naruto fought.

While they talked, Cleo kept a full glass in Naruto's hand. He was probably aiming to take Naruto back to a hotel room, which would suggest that Cleo thought a drunk Naruto wouldn't be unwilling, and it further suggested that Cleo was absolutely certain Naruto was not against male companionship. Naruto drank the punch, knowing with a certainty that when he was drunk he didn't do anything regrettable, since Jiraiya had already gotten him a hooker on his fourteenth birthday and all drunk-Naruto did with her was talk her ear off about 'his Sakura-chan'.

Their conversation ended again with a subtle promise of a fight in the near-to-distant future and Naruto turned to find somewhere else to be. Instead of stopping, his drunk self continued spinning and he nearly fell on his ass. Strong hands under his arms held him carefully until he could steady himself.

"You alright?" Cleo asked him, true concern showing in his eyes that Naruto was a bit too tipsy to recognize. His voice held no such concern.

Naruto glared at Cleo. "I'm 'right," he said, annoyed that Cleo would ask.

"Are you, now? I wasn't certain," Cleo said lightly and let go of Naruto's arms.

"O'course I am." Naruto said. "Jus' a bit tippy, tha's all. How's you not drunk?" His words made absolutely no sense to him.

Cleo shrugged. "I've built up an immunity to Blue Leaf. It doesn't affect me."

"So's while all's us get drunk, ya snicker an' listen t' a bunch'a drunks?" Cleo nodded. "I's glad we're friends 'stead a'enemies." Naruto told him.

Cleo said, "I'd like to be more, you know."

"Not gonna happen." Naruto told Cleo before turning slower this time. "Gonna find Sas'ke. I gonna go home."

Cleo asked, "You need any help, love?"

"Na, na, I got dis." Naruto told him and made his rather dizzy way to where he thought Sasuke might be at. Thankfully he did manage to find Sasuke where he thought the boy might be. Naruto leaned half against the wall, and half on Sasuke.

"Get off," Sasuke growled and then he hiccupped.

"Sas'ke, I'm shrunk." Naruto slurred and then giggled. He attempted to correct the word 'drunk', but it came out the same each time. The more he tried to say it right, the more annoyed Sasuke became.

"Shut up," Sasuke snapped.

"Bu' I'm shrunk!" Naruto giggled again, only to be shoved up against the wall by a mildly infuriated Sasuke.

"I said—shut up," he hissed, his face so close to Naruto's they were almost nose-to-nose.

"You can' shtop me, you can' shtop me," Naruto sang in an annoying voice as all those drinks caused him to throw caution to the wind—not that he would hesitate to throw caution to the wind where Sasuke was concerned when he was sober.

Sasuke growled, "You wanna bet on that?"

"Sure's hell I do!" Naruto sang repeatedly.

Naruto soon found his lips preoccupied and couldn't remember what he was doing prior to kissing Sasuke. He completely disregarded all his mental warnings against kissing Sasuke, because he wasn't the one who started it after all, and even though he was certain he wasn't gay, he immediately kissed back.

xXx

Sakura only left Lee's side for a few seconds to check on Fuyumi, but that ended up being a big mistake, as Lee—very intolerant to all forms of intoxicants—became thirsty after a night of chatting with Sakura. He hadn't drank anything all night because he was so busy watching Sakura's beautiful face.

However, nearly immediately after drinking the spiked punch, Lee began to cause unfortunate mayhem.

"Damn it," Sakura moaned as she came back to see an intoxicated Lee causing mild mania. She hastily went to get Fuyumi and located Hinata on the way. They didn't need to be clued in on the situation, as it began escalating worse and worse and they could see it.

Lee wasn't the only drunken brawler within moments but he was definitely the instigator. Sakura and Fuyumi had to bowl their way through the brawlers to get at Lee, and unfortunately had to literally sedate him before Lee would calm enough that they could drag him away.

After they got Lee out of the mess (people everywhere were wading in to pull teammates out—the gathering was effectively over) Sakura and Fuyumi were supporting Lee between the two of them as Hinata used her Byakugan to locate Naruto and Sasuke.

Once the two boys were found, Hinata pointed them out and they went to find yet another problem.

"What the hell?" Fuyumi asked in annoyance.

Sakura groaned again as Hinata looked away bearing a sad expression. "Fuyumi, take Lee." Sakura said. Fuyumi prepared herself to brace Lee's weight and Sakura marched over to Sasuke and Naruto, dragging the two apart. "If you two want to do that stuff, you should do it in private!" Sakura half yelled at them. Their eyes turned on her and she felt a shiver go down her spine.

Images popped into her head of herself with her two boys and she shook those images away. Really, what was she thinking?

"Hinata-chan, take the map out of my vest pocket," Fuyumi said since her arms were full of unconscious Lee. Hinata did as she was bid and took out the map. "Sakura-chan, you should take Sasuke and Naruto to Sasuke's hotel, 'cause I'm pretty sure someone spiked the punch." Sakura glared at Fuyumi. "It wasn't me, honest!"

"Sure sounds like something you'd do, Fuyumi," Sakura snapped, yanking the two boys apart when they started to drift toward each other again. Naruto began taunting Sasuke.

"I didn't. I swear it!" Fuyumi promised.

Sakura growled in frustration. "You know what? We'll talk about this tomorrow. You two take Lee back to the Dawn Shard. I'm sure someone will give you his room number if you ask." Sakura snatched the map, and then turned to her teammates, glaring at them both. "And you two aren't going to give me any trouble, got it? I'm not afraid to smack you both around if you do!"

Sakura figured Fuyumi's plan was a fairly decent one. Naruto probably wouldn't want his kids to know he was drunk or got drunk. The two boys nodded solemnly.

"Shorry, Shakura-shan," Naruto muttered drunkenly.

"Okay," Sasuke grumbled, sounding less drunk than Naruto, though he had to be even drunker than Naruto if he was kissing someone (guy or girl) in public.

"Now," she glared at Sasuke, "do you remember where your hotel is?" Sasuke nodded. "Then march. You're going back to it." She looked at Fuyumi, "I'm keeping the map, just in case," she said.

"Don't worry, I've got the map memorized anyway," Fuyumi told Sakura.

Sakura glared at her teammates, dragging Naruto after Sasuke. Despite being drunk, Sasuke still got them to the 'Dead Bird Inn'. Kakashi wasn't anywhere in sight, both beds in the hotel room were made up neatly. That worked fine enough for Sakura, she figured.

She was going to have the two boys lay on the two beds, but the minute she turned her back to close the door, Naruto and Sasuke were kissing again. She didn't have the patience for this, she figured. She knew she'd had plenty of punch that night, and she could feel it catching up with her. She guessed she must be a temperamental drunk, but she'd never been drunk before to gauge how well she reacted.

She marched over to them and shoved herself between them, using her body as a sort of wall to keep them from each other. "You two are not going to do thi—"

Her words were lost when she became the center of attention rather abruptly. Naruto, who was in front of her, twined the fingers of his good hand in her hair and moved close enough that their bodies pressed against each other. He tilted her head back onto Sasuke's shoulder and kissed her as passionately as he had both times they kissed under the bridge, when he was himself, and when he was just there to make Kakashi think she was a lesbian.

She felt Sasuke's presence behind her, his chest to her back, as he brought his hands up to her arms and she could feel his kisses on her neck softer than she would have imagined Sasuke was capable of. When she thought of her two teammates, she always thought violently passionate because that was how they were to each other.

Sakura knew very well she could stop whatever it was that was transpiring between the three of them. It wouldn't take much. If she wanted to, she could easily have just left the two there on their own and let them deal with tomorrow's repercussions. Instead of doing that, she let herself get caught up in the moment, trampling the thoughts she knew she should take into account.

This could only cause problems in both the present day and the future.

* * *

**So, so very popular...! **yumeniai (It will be a while before Lee's Arthlezenian history is revealed), supersillee06 (I promise--Kakashi is first thing next chapter!), Dark Inu Fan (Thanks for the drawings! I'm still posting them in my profile--they're a thousand times better than I could ever draw! And as for his wounds... eh... I've been procrastinating at those but the bandages come off next chapter), anonymous naruhinafan (You still have to wait on the bet, and thanks for all the help you gave me on the backstory... I've been pretty much demanding help from everyone I know, annoying them to no end), Arcander (thanks for the help), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami, DarkRavie, loki09 aka ttre208 (I think the NarutoHinata moments might have seemed off because everyone is used to HER as the uncertain one, and in this, he is a moron and doesn't realize she likes him...what do you think?), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 56 after I posted chapter 57.

ANSWER: I posted a supplemental story to Koumajutsu called "Kakashi, A Koumajutsu Tale". Feel free to go check it out! While you're checking things out, Dark Inu Fan drew some fanart for Koumajutsu. I have a few posted in my profile beneath Koumajutsu's summary, and she may have more in her gallery. Take a look! They're cute!

_Dear Like I'd tell u, Here's a story you might enjoy: 1nce on a time, nothin' hapind in teh land of no? and no one was betta or wers 4 it. The End. Word of advice to all readers... if you don't want to piss people off, don't leave a stupid ass review. But hey! Review everybody, 'cause they keep me going! Thanks!_


	58. Kakashi Returns

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

PS! Sorry, Kakashi didn't return immediately. I tried, but he was a lazy bastard and showed up late again.

* * *

Chapter 58: Kakashi Returns

Kagome shivered and pulled the red and black Akatsuki cloak tighter around herself as she watched Kabuto several feet away dissecting a dead coyote by the light of a small fire. She was really starting to regret coming along; the later it got, the chillier the desert became. If it weren't for Itachi having his cloak along, she figured she probably would've bailed hours ago and risked the slave pens to get back to the warmth of her bed in Gaara's house.

Itachi had told her to wipe her hands off on a rag and curl up in his cloak an hour earlier. She'd been helping Kabuto dissect the remains prior to that. Now, Itachi was just a few feet away from Kabuto talking quietly about the state of the animal. When they arrived, they only found its body. The head was missing and as far as they could tell, no desert animal would simply eat the head off and leave the body.

Itachi crossed the few feet to kneel in front of her. "Kabuto finally found what we were looking for," the man said.

"What were you looking for?" Kagome asked. She still hadn't been clued in on why they were trekking several miles through the desert in the middle of the night to examine a dead animal. Certainly the desert wasn't known to be extremely friendly, right?

"Breeder tracks." Kagome felt a shiver go racing across her spine. Itachi continued, "The Breeder didn't burst the chest cavity or kill the heart; the animal's heart stopped and the Breeder came up through the esophagus."

Kagome shuddered in disgust at the mental image that brought. Recently born Breeders were long, wormlike creatures with many rows of teeth inside a wide mouth. They had three stages of growth; the first was birth out of a human or an animal. That Breeder would then find some humid and dark hole to continue growing into something of a mixture between a praying mantis and a scorpion.

When it reached that second stage, the Breeder would lay eggs in that humid hole in the earth, and when those eggs hatched the Breeders hatching from it would look like a distorted mixture of a scorpion, spider, and jelly fish. The Breeder would sacrifice its own life to become food for its young and then the hatchlings would seek out life forms and lay eggs in them.

The human or animal unfortunate enough to be victim of that would become basically like a living incubator. They would live for a few days, sometimes up to a week, before the Breeder's larval stage was complete and they would then burst out of it's host's chest cavity and in the process tear the heart it had wrapped around to shreds.

Kagome stood up, simultaneously folding up the cloak as she approached the dead animal. "How could you have possibly suspected you might find Breeder tracks in a randomly dead animal?"

She set the cloak out of the way of any blood and knelt opposite Kabuto next to the dead animal. Kabuto pointed out the barely visible scarring around the heart he'd extracted from the animal's chest.

Kabuto said, "Random animal deaths don't involve mysteriously missing heads."

"Queen Breeders eat people and animals." Kagome ran a finger along the scar tissue on the heart. "The scarring isn't fully developed…"

"I was hoping you'd notice that," Kabuto said. "Aside from that, the heart is whole. A Breeder that separates from the heart will," he began.

"Tear the heart apart," Kagome finished. "I know; I'm bad at Summoning, but that doesn't mean I don't remember what I was taught in my lessons." She frowned down at the dead creature. "So where is the Breeder, and where is this animal's head?"

"A Breeder this close to Sunagakure—even an underdeveloped one—could be catastrophic." Itachi murmured.

Kabuto agreed, "It would be far worse than the plague. Once someone has a Breeder inside them, they're as good as dead."

Kagome watched the two of them turn to her. "What are you going to do about this, Higurashi-sama?" Itachi asked her rather abruptly.

Kagome was slightly taken aback. "M-me?" she asked. Both of them were looking at her and they both nodded. "This isn't my area of expertise!" she said in a half-panic.

"You're the Clan head," Itachi insisted. "Our actions are your orders. That is how clans work. We can only advise you; beyond that, the decision is yours."

Kagome nervously brushed her hands on her shirt before realizing that was a bad idea—not that her shirt wasn't previously bloody. "Oh," she said. "Um… we should… warn Gaara, and try to find the Breeder."

"Not _try_," Itachi corrected her. "We are Yobidasu; we do not _try_, we _do_."

She nodded, but she didn't feel as confident as Itachi sounded. Kabuto reached across the animal and gripped her wrist, turning up her palm. He picked up a long, string-like thing from the sand she had not previously noticed and said, "Here is the Breeder." He dropped the thing in her hand.

She shuddered at the feel of the writhing Breeder in her hand. It was no bigger than an earthworm now, but it wouldn't always be so small. Those that hatched from eggs would have the potential of growing similarly into something crossed between a praying mantis and a scorpion and they could grow anywhere from eight feet tall to ten feet tall. Kagome recalled her father once saying that a Breeder that hit that stage of maturity was a devil and a half to kill.

"You couldn't find it though, you said."

"I wanted to know what you would do if we couldn't." Itachi explained. "Are you going to kill it or just stare at it until it realizes it could have a new host?"

She nodded in response and tossed it onto the small fire they had burning. She winced at the sounds of the creature's screams as it burned alive. "So where is the head really?" Kagome asked, trying to block out the noise of the creature in her mind. It didn't really take long to die, but it still was not pleasant to listen to.

"That remains a mystery," Kabuto answered as he wiped his hands on a rag.

"I don't like mysteries much, or anything mysterious, either," Kagome complained. "What do we do with the rest of the remains?"

"Leave it," Itachi shrugged. "Some scavengers will have a nice meal. Here, wipe your hands off." He handed her a rag and picked up his cloak.

They waited until Itachi was satisfied the undeveloped Breeder was good and fully dead and then used the sand to douse the fire before heading back to the desert city. Itachi gave her his cloak again to wear. It was dawn when they arrived back at the entrance to the city, the path between the mountains. There was where they were accosted by none other than Kakashi.

The silver-haired Leaf-Jounin looked surprised to see them. Kagome was happy to see Kakashi. "Kakashi-kun!" Kagome chirped excitedly and hugged the older man. "Itachi is mean. He makes me dissect randomly dead animals, and keeps me cooped up in a house! It's not fair."

Kakashi winced as she squeezed him with another hug and immediately set to remove her from his person. "What killed the animal?" Kakashi asked Itachi as he placed a hand to his ribs.

"Not sure, but it had a Breeder in it. We couldn't find the head, so I'll probably do a sweep with Kabuto over the next couple days, just to make sure we don't have a full grown Breeder tramping out there." Itachi responded. Itachi then asked with amusement in his voice, "Did you find Kagome?"

"What?" Kagome asked.

Kakashi glared at Itachi. "You could have told me she was with you a long time ago and you know it."

"After the hell I've suffered with your team? No, it just wouldn't have been fair. It still isn't. I'd say you owe me now after all I've done." Itachi said reasonably.

Kagome asked, "What are you two talking about?"

"Aren't you—" Kakashi asked Kabuto, completely ignoring Kagome (much to her displeasure).

"No," Kabuto said. "I was doing undercover work, which was basically blown to shreds when Sasuke showed up to be Orochimaru's pawn… and of course, not forgetting to mention the kind favor done to me by the Third who left no records of my work."

Kakashi sighed and then hissed when a long sigh pained him. "Ah, here," he said, struggling to take off his travel pack. Kagome moved to assist him.

"Are you hurt?" she asked the man.

"Not really, but I've been under the impression you were dead so I'm a bit torn between relief that you're alive and smacking Itachi around because he didn't tell me," he said and as she held his bag for him, he shifted through the contents of the bag until he was dragging out a rolled up green satchel. "I believe this is yours," he said. "Check to make sure its all there. I was in a bit of a hurry, so I'm not sure I got everything."

Kagome gasped and dropped his pack, instantly making a grab for the familiar green satchel she'd bought the day she left Konoha. In the gray light of dawn, she tipped the bag upside down and let all its contents fall out. Both bracelets for her Koumaberu were present, as were both anklets and the belt. Sesshoumaru's special bell was there too. As she accounted for them, she began to attach all the items to her body promising herself she wouldn't lose them _ever_ again.

"You couldn't hit me anyway," Itachi informed Kakashi.

Kagome ignored the two and continued shifting through the items within the sack. Her "Level one Summons" study book was half glued shut from when she'd been kidnapped and her assailants had thrown her stuff into the hot spring. She began taking inventory of her Level two Summon Links.

The toy spin-top was present. A thin hair wrapped around a shard of crystal that had been used to trap lightning was also present inside a small glass jar. A string of seven rings made of different metals and thickness was present. A very thin rock carved to look like a leaf was there. She found the two-inch tall painted wood carving of a potted tomato plant and beside that was the green beaded hairclip with two white feathers attached to it. Two gray scales were present, though she had to shift through the bag to find the second one as it hadn't fallen out. The last one was the decorative hair comb made out of demon bones.

So she had all her Links, and all her Koumaberu. She was still missing the Shikon no Tama. She shifted through the bag again, hoping to have missed it. She didn't. It wasn't present. "Do you have everything?" Kakashi asked.

"Um, not exactly," she said hesitantly.

"What are you missing?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, by the general order of things… it would end up to be the one thing that can't be replaced…" Kagome winced as she placed all her things back in the green satchel. The three men present got the hint right away and they winced as well.

"We'll get it back," Itachi promised her. "Now that we don't have quite so much to look for, the planning will be easier. How did you come to possess these?" Itachi asked Kakashi.

"Orochimaru seems to have moved into Yobidasu territory." Kakashi replied. "Why did you leave these things behind in the first place?" Kakashi asked.

Kagome opened her mouth to explain but Kabuto beat her to it. "It was my fault. I had to get her out of Orochimaru's hideout in the Abby Mountains; she refused so I was forced to knock her out."

"That was foolish," Kakashi growled. Kagome hid her face behind her long curtain of hair, but Kakashi's anger wasn't directed at her. "If Orochimaru learns he can use that to Summon, he won't need a god damned body that can see the rip."

"Stop it, Kakashi-kun," Kagome told him, still half-afraid to look at him. "I'm the last Higurashi, right? So Kabuto had to make a choice—me, or the Shikon. The Shikon can be found and retrieved, but if my bloodline dies out, the King will hold the whole world responsible and wage war."

"Do you think he's going to be very forgiving knowing you don't have it, or lost it?" Kakashi demanded.

Kagome lifted her chin in determination finally. "If _he_ kills me, he can't wage war on us, can he? So just drop it. You're not a member of our clan so it's not your problem to worry about. We'll fix our own problems."

Kakashi's one visible eye looked annoyed but he gave in reluctantly. Changing the subject instantly—he probably could tell she wanted no more said on the subject—he said, "Itachi, how did Sasuke react to you? The letter you left only stated you two met and would be traveling together to Suna."

Itachi shrugged. "He's a lot more reasonable now than he used to be… He still doesn't trust me, but I don't trust myself half the time so I don't blame him."

Kakashi sighed, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you know…" Itachi said, "You get a choice of cooked rabbit or cooked coyote and you make your choice… but how do you know you got the right one and you'll be happy with that choice?"

"I don't get you," Kakashi admitted.

"I don't think anyone does," Kagome said and then added, "Or that he even wants anyone to." Kagome slipped the strap of her bag over her neck and shoulder. "Kakashi-kun?" The older man looked down at her. "I promise we'll find it…"

Kakashi ruffled her hair with a small smile creasing his eye. "Don't worry about my nagging… I just have a different investment in Summoning than you, so my reasons for wanting you to have it are that much stronger. And I've been known to be a pessimist. I know you'll get it."

She couldn't help but be very happy at his certainty. It never occurred to her to ask why he might have any investment at all in Summoning since he wasn't a Summoner.

Kakashi looked back at Itachi and asked, "So what have you been up to with my team?"

Itachi shrugged carelessly. "Come along, Kagome. You've been up all night. You look tired."

"I'm not that tired… I could actually use a bath." Kagome added.

"Is this your way of telling me you're not going to tell me anything?" Kakashi asked.

Itachi simply smirked in his 'I-know-what-you-don't' way before heading back toward the city. Kagome looked sympathetically at Kakashi before following the leader of Akatsuki and Kabuto. "Sorry, Kakashi-kun…"

Kakashi sighed; "You could at least tell me where you set Sasuke up to stay!" he called after them before wincing. Kagome wondered if Kakashi was _really_ okay, but figured the Jounin was smart enough to get help before traipsing across a desert.

"The Dead Bird," Itachi called back. "Room 26 on the second floor. Have fun with those brats; they've given me hell and I don't care if I ever see them again."

xXx

Sakura's head was throbbing and she was painfully sore all over the place. She didn't want to open her eyes, fearing the light of day would cause her blindness. As she lay in bed, she took mental stock of herself and tried to recall why she felt so awful.

She could remember panicking as Naruto was nearly the cause of them being late to the party. After that, they were on their way to the gathering when Naruto took off and Hinata panicked the minute the girl saw… something—Sakura wasn't sure what. Hinata wanted to detour around whatever it was she saw, and that caused them to be extra late. She also remembered spending much of the night talking to Lee, drinking punch whenever it was offered by a server.

Then her mind played a brief recap of the remaining memories she had of the night. Lee got drunk and started a brawl. Sasuke and Naruto were all over each other. Sakura got in the way and ended up being the two boys' focus.

She felt like she had a stone in the pit of her stomach. Guilt.

Everything after the point where Naruto unzipped her vest and Sasuke slid it off her was a blank, but she knew enough from the way she was currently feeling to get the gist of the idea of what happened. Apart from her physical soreness, she could feel the two boys on either side of her and they certainly weren't wearing any more clothes than she was.

Oh, what have I done? Sakura cried mentally. She wondered if there would be a way to roll them off her without waking them. If she could just get out of there, maybe the whole night would be a big blank for them too and then no one would ever know.

She carefully opened her eyes, wincing as the light caused an instant headache to bloom. She turned to look at her teammates, unable to resist the urge. Naruto was on her left, so close his blond strands tickled her nose. On her right was Sasuke, half sprawled on her just like Naruto was due to how narrow and unaccommodating the bed was.

She really didn't see herself being able to get out of the situation quietly. To make matters ten thousand times worse, she heard the tell-tale sound of a page turning. She didn't require a trumpet parade to know what that noise was. Or who made it.

The guilt stone in her stomach doubled in size.

Inner Sakura piped up with a screech, "FUCK! You can't even blame Naruto for this, because you could have stopped it! IDIOT!" Her mental tears became real at that point.

xXx

Well, one of them is awake at least, Kakashi thought as he turned the page of his book. The truth of the matter was that Kakashi was furious—irate, even—after walking into the hotel room and finding out the only Genin team he ever took on as students was now suddenly intimately involved when none of them had seen the others for a very extended period of time prior to a brief few months ago.

His first thought had been to mentally calculate the probability of the rather awkward threesome. Naruto and Sasuke he could easily believe; Kakashi had bets with several other Jounin leaders that Sasuke and Naruto would eventually hook up. He'd made those bets within days of taking on Team 7.

However, the addition of Sakura to the group made things rather complicated. She had always fancied Sasuke, but Sasuke never once showed any interest in Sakura except on the rare off chance that she had something he wanted. In turn, Naruto had always fancied Sakura, but even after Naruto returned from his training expedition with Jiraiya the girl still showed no interest in Naruto except as an annoying teammate.

Furthermore, Sakura even tried to convince Kakashi to switch Naruto out on their team for Shino when they were assigned to escort Kagome home because Naruto said he could 'see Kyuubi'. Considering Sakura's reaction to Naruto just 'seeing' Kyuubi—which Kakashi remained unaware as to how it was possible—Kakashi knew enough about Naruto to be able to accurately gauge the likelihood of Naruto revealing his little secret to Sakura.

Simultaneously, he knew enough about Sakura to know that the girl wasn't power hungry or a gold digger. She was superficial, but she wasn't the type who would seek out a one-night-stand just to sate her physical urges as Kakashi knew a few other people—kunoichi and shinobi alike—did from time to time.

Kakashi had been like that for a while as well until one of his one-night-stands became more of a 'regular'. The thought caused a small bit of Kakashi's tension and anger to trickle away. He could imagine his companion's flustered expression at the thought.

Naruto was also not likely to be looking for just a one-night-stand. Prior to finding out about the Kyuubi being sealed within himself, Naruto was too young to care about such things. After taking Naruto on as a student Kakashi had watched Naruto develop a strong affinity for long, meaningful relationships.

Aside from that, Kakashi was also positive Naruto was smart enough to figure out how much having sex with the wrong person—or even the right person—could harm him in the long run. Kakashi just hoped he wasn't wrong for not making sure Naruto knew.

Those two aside, Kakashi thought about Sasuke. The boy had been a puzzle since day one. He appeared to want nothing to do with anyone at all and didn't form long lasting bonds with others. Ordinarily, Kakashi might consider the 'aloof' personality to be the making of someone who would prefer one-night-stands simply to relieve built up tension that might occur from the line of work. At the same time, Kakashi had to take in additional knowledge about Sasuke that not many were privy to, which caused a contradiction.

While he appeared as if he didn't like long lasting relationships, Sasuke only bothered to form relationships if he was certain it wouldn't end quickly. Whether or not Sasuke realized that personal failing in himself Kakashi wasn't sure, but because of the fact that Sasuke did eventually form bonds with others when he felt it was worth something Kakashi wasn't able to ascertain for sure if Sasuke might be a one-night-stand type of guy.

To make an already complicated issue even more brain-bending, Kakashi was forced to look at other parts of his students' personalities to try to understand how it could be that his three students ended up naked in the same bed.

Sakura would do anything in her power to make the people she loved happy.

Naruto would do anything in his power to make people happy.

Sasuke would do anything in his power to make himself happy.

Together, that was a very dangerous combination. It left Sasuke as the leader of their group, with him manipulating the other two to serve his purposes. The fact that Sasuke had disappeared into the arms of Orochimaru for three years left the situation still more complex than it already was.

Personally, Kakashi could trust Sasuke no more than he could bring his dead father back to life. Sasuke was a dangerous asset to Konoha, but certain parties felt the benefits of having him outweighed the downfalls.

There was really no way of telling what Sasuke had been through with Orochimaru except by what the boy himself spoke of it, and as far as Kakashi was concerned, everything the boy said had the potential to be a lie. Even if Sasuke really was making a concerted effort to remain in Konoha, there was no way of being one hundred percent certain Sasuke's mind was still right.

Kakashi had vouched to Tsunade on Sasuke's loyalty to Naruto, and he did still believe that was where Sasuke's loyalty lay truthfully. However, on the off-chance that Kakashi was wrong, his students' actions might actually be a piece of some rather twisted scheme Orochimaru thought up. There was the possibility that Orochimaru might be the one to pull the strings on Sasuke using the curse seal. Sasuke wouldn't even have to be willing at that point to be used.

If it came down to his students' actions being part of a domino effect type plan, then it was also possible that Sasuke himself was behind it. Sasuke's eyes were not exactly windows to his soul, and the boy didn't need a mask to hide his emotions. He wasn't open like Naruto; he only spoke his thoughts when he wanted to, and his mouth didn't run away without him.

For whatever reason, Sasuke didn't kill Naruto at the Valley of Ends. He might not have been able to. Humans were prone to being unable to completely sever bonds with one another—it was what set them apart from demons. Because Sasuke couldn't bring himself to sever those ties through death, Sasuke might very well have searched for other ways to do it, or through manipulation, get others to do it for him.

If Sasuke learned of the Kyuubi being sealed in Naruto, Kakashi could easily assume without fault the boy also put together how much of an affect the general populace might have on Naruto. From there, it wouldn't be difficult for the boy to manipulate the citizens of Konoha. All he would have to do would be to show them what they swore they already knew, or to show them what they expected and Naruto's life would be officially over one way or another.

Even though he was unable to trust Sasuke, Kakashi's brain still had to run the course of reasoning. It might just be possible that the three had some incredibly screwed up idea of a relationship. It wasn't like Kakashi had been a great role model for the three on what a proper relationship should be like—or that he even could be a proper role model—and two of his students didn't exactly have a wide assortment of role models as they were growing up either.

All of that had coursed through his brain the moment he walked in on the scene of the three sleeping in a small bed. It wasn't until he'd gotten closer to them (ready to thrash Sasuke and having decided Sasuke was behind it all) that his very sensitive nose picked up the scent of alcohol in the air. If it weren't for how good his nose was even with a mask on, Sasuke probably wouldn't have recovered from the damage Kakashi had been ready to inflict on him.

When he smelled the alcohol around them, as if it were a curtain of stale air around the bed they shared, he wasn't sure if he ought to be relieved or even more pissed off. It certainly was a relief that the probability that Sasuke was out to get Naruto had gone down even if it was always still a chance. If Sasuke didn't arrange the event, the betrayal it would have been to Naruto wouldn't have the opportunity to hurt the blond.

He did wonder if Sasuke might have gotten the other two drunk simply to get them into bed, but then he was forced to toss out all possibility that Sasuke was behind the event not just because Sasuke's breath smelled as strongly of alcohol as the others did, but because Sasuke's involvement in the actual act would have been unnecessary—he would have only needed to get Sakura and Naruto together and make sure that what happened between the two became public information.

That left Kakashi only two potential conclusions of the ones he'd thought up. Either there was a third party involved pulling the strings, possibly with the intent to harm just one or all three of Team 7, or else the three just got drunk for whatever reason and had a rather kinky one-night-stand. He scrapped the idea that they might all be involved in an awkward three-way romance when he realized alcohol was involved.

No matter which one it was, he knew his students would be faced with dire consequences, though if Kakashi had to hope for the better of the two evils, he would hope it was just a kinky drunken one-night-stand. That way, the three could bury what happened in the hotel room and no one ever had to know. If Sakura ended up pregnant—and he didn't doubt for a minute that she would after clearly having sex with not just one but two men in a night—she could abort and the three could just get on with their lives.

Now that Sakura was awake, it was just a matter of time until the other two woke and Kakashi would have some answers. He just didn't like how high the odds were in favor of someone else plotting against Team 7. Sasuke had plenty of enemies simply because he was an Uchiha and their blood trait was widely known and hated amongst other clans not only in Konoha. Naruto had enemies because of the obvious. At least Sakura didn't seem to have any enemies… Kakashi thought that might have been a benefit to being from a civilian family.

xXx

Slowly the world was coming into focus, but as Naruto's stomach gurgled he simply knew it wasn't going to happen fast enough. It was just the same as the last time he got drunk—he was going to spend plenty of time puking up what he drank and even when it was all gone, he would still continue to heave until it felt like his internal organs were trying to shoot out of his throat.

The feeling was certainly not going to be a pleasant one.

Naruto sat up, bleary eyes searching frantically for a place to vomit. If he had been anywhere else in the world, he would have had a bathroom to race into, but he did recall he was in the desert where the only bathrooms were public.

Thankfully there was a waste basket. The teen shot toward it and threw up. Memories of the evening replayed in his mind. Sasuke kissed him. He'd taken it as an invitation and he'd been eager to return the affection. Oh shit, I'm gay… I'm… I really am gay… Naruto thought as his world turned upside down.

He threw up again and his mind played further into the evening; Sakura got in his way to Sasuke. She was so beautiful all he'd wanted to do was kiss her once but then he couldn't bring himself to stop because she kissed back. I shouldn't have touched her! He screamed at himself, for all the good it wouldn't do.

Naruto's brain replayed everything; he remembered unzipping Sakura's vest. He remembered Sasuke sliding the vest off Sakura. He remembered how warm the flesh on her stomach felt as his hands slipped beneath the cloth of her tee-shirt.

He remembered every detail, and he wished he didn't because he really didn't want to. His mind flooded with memories of the Seduction-Infiltration mastery school and he began crying as he vomited again. I did this… I seduced my teammates… Naruto cried.

Sasuke and Sakura were supposed to beat him up, not share his bed. When he thought about it, the bed wasn't even his. It was Sasuke's rented hotel bed.

When he finally stopped heaving, he couldn't bring himself to turn around and look at his teammates. He knew at least Sakura was awake because he could hear her quiet sobs. He clung to the waste bin, steeling himself for the screams of 'rape' he was sure was to come. That was when he noticed it: the soft turn of a page. Kakashi…

Naruto wished he could make the ground open up and swallow him whole.

xXx

Well, that was interesting, Sasuke thought as he woke up and instantly registered the events of the prior evening. Perhaps not something I'll be repeating—ever. He added mentally, …At least not half of it.

He quickly took stock of himself, noting that he was still intact. That was certainly a good thing. It just wouldn't make sense to survive several occasions with his brother and then die because of a heated engagement in the sack.

Sasuke looked at the girl beside him. She was clutching the bed sheet to her as if it made a difference one way or another. Tears were coursing down Sakura's face even though she had her eyes squeezed shut. Her tan skin was blotchy with tears. She was distraught quite obviously by what had occurred.

In the corner of the room, Naruto was holding onto the garbage can. The room smelled not only like alcohol, but vomit as well. The blond boy wasn't moving. His back was to them and he was tense like he was expecting to be impaled at any moment.

I see they're not really taking this all that well… Sasuke thought and then he heard the turn of a page. He turned, fully expecting to see his brother writing in his journey log (Sasuke couldn't help but taunt Itachi over keeping a diary when he found out) but instead the person he saw was the real Kakashi.

Well, this should prove as interesting as last night, Sasuke thought. It would be his first real encounter with Kakashi since the Jounin had warned him not to 'lose faith' or whatever the hell he'd said just before the Sound Four came to Sasuke.

After a moment passed and all Sasuke heard was the grating noise of both of his teammates crying, Sasuke raised his hands up to massage his temples. If he wasn't supposed to have the ability to feel pain anymore, why could he feel a massive migraine coming on? If he was following that line of thought, why was last night so satisfying to him when he wasn't supposed to feel anything? If he couldn't feel pain, he shouldn't feel pleasure right?

He was beginning to think the fact that he couldn't feel pain was a fluke. What if his Sharingan had somehow begun to block the messages his body tried to send to his brain that made him register pain? Because he could feel when Naruto or Sakura touched him, but he couldn't feel when someone pinched him with their nails.

"If you're here to lecture us, just fucking get it over with, Kakashi." Sasuke bit out, still not particularly fond of the Jounin. He respected the man for his skills in the field, but for the most part he didn't agree with Kakashi's method of training. Kakashi basically said 'sink or swim'.

Before leaving, that was the only way Sasuke thought he would learn after the academy. However, after training under Orochimaru, Kabuto, and (however briefly) Itachi, Sasuke's measure of the man behind the mask was much less than before. He'd been given thorough explanations by the other three, but Kakashi only gave them the basics and they had to figure things out from there.

As a result, Sasuke decided he wasn't going to bother with any honorifics. He'd only ever called the man 'sensei' as a result of a strict upbringing by his parents before they died. He never felt it was owed.

Snapping his book shut, Kakashi turned to look at them all with his singular visible eye narrowed in anger. His voice was barely kept at an even tone as he spoke, "You are engaged, Naruto is obviously injured, and Sakura—did you even think about your future?"

Sakura buried her face in one hand, the other still trying to keep the sheet covering the shreds of her dignity. Personally Sasuke wouldn't care if she decided not to bother with the sheet, except that Kakashi was there and his presence made a big difference. "You're engaged?" Sakura sobbed, clearly distressed even more by that fact.

Sasuke looked around for something more reliable that Sakura could cover up in. His white tee-shirt was just near the bed. He grabbed it and handed it to the girl. "Not like it makes a difference, since I don't really even know who she is," Sasuke said. "And as far as Naruto being injured," Sasuke glanced at his blond friend, remembering how he'd taken the cloth off Naruto's eye the night before and Sakura hadn't even noticed the difference between his demon eye and the regular blue one. "He's faking it so he doesn't have to admit he's already healed."

Sakura looked gratefully at Sasuke for the shirt. He felt slightly more comfortable with her covered up. Her mortified sobs stopped once she had half her dignity returned, but the waterworks had yet to shut off. Naruto didn't say anything to either object or confirm Sasuke's accusation. The garbage bin seemed to be Naruto's only anchor to the room, because his back muscles were tense as if he was preparing to bolt—naked or not.

"It makes a difference, Sasuke," Kakashi growled. "It is your responsibility to uphold the honor of the promised betrothal."

"Oh, so you want to talk about responsibility?" Sasuke asked. He could feel a ghost of a smirk on his face as Kakashi's eye narrowed further at him. "How about how you so responsibly left to go wherever it is you've been the past few months?" From the corner of the room, Naruto turned—probably to object—but Sasuke quickly continued, "And how about how responsible it was to leave Itachi in your place?"

Naruto's face, crimson demon eye quite visible, portrayed a look of profound shock. Sakura stared from Sasuke to Kakashi and back again; she seemed unable to bring herself to look at Naruto.

Since no one else seemed willing to comment, Sasuke continued. His smirk grew wider. "As for Sakura's future, that is for her to decide. What happened here is between us; you are an unnecessary complication. Whatever happens after this will happen; that's probably the only thing you've ever really taught us: things happen, adjust accordingly. Right?"

Kakashi was scowling. Sasuke didn't need the mask off to tell that much. "Can you adjust to Naruto hanging as a result?" Kakashi questioned and Sasuke instantly felt the smirk disappear. The question sent his head reeling. Why would Naruto hang because of a night that was no one else's business?

Kyuubi, Sasuke thought. The people who hate him because of Kyuubi will use this against him… Shit, I shouldn't have started messing with him to begin with… He glanced at the blond and saw Naruto slouch. Seeing his only real friend like that made Sasuke want to rewind time twelve hours.

* * *

**Incredible...! **Dragoink (they're expecting to stay until January/February; it's September in the story right now), Dark Inu Fan (Incredibly affectionate... but the aftermorning seems less fun), anonymous naruhinafan (thanks for the preliminary match warning; knowing me I may still botch it though), Arcander (you weren't available and I wanted to post--similarly to now, when I want to post you're not here to read it first), DarkRavie, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (Kakashi wouldn't blackmail them, would he?), supersillee06 (Well, I had to post the warning anyway or else people might've yelled at me), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 57 after I posted chapter 58.

ANSWER: I kind of like the variation in Sakura/Sasuke/Naruto/Kakashi reactions to what happened... what about you?

_I'll take the shot for you, I'd give my life for you (but even still you won't review??)_


	59. The Archangel

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha". This will be Canon Naruto and Alternate Universe Inuyasha. _

**Slightly important notice: In regards to the NarutoHinata pairing**, if it bothers you that Naruto doesn't get together with Hinata for a long time (with the exception of a few potentially gag-worthy moments here and there) then I apologize in advance.

This is a _long_ story and before Naruto and Hinata end up together, Naruto _does_ get married to someone else and he _does_ have kids with that other woman. By the end of this story, Naruto and Hinata _will_ be together. If you can stand to wait through a whole story that has a plot, great. If not, I am sorry to lose you but these things happen.

Who knows? Maybe Naruto will even have two wives before Hinata if I feel like it.

Why does Naruto get married to someone else to begin with? Something happens which forces Naruto and Hinata's very tentative relationship to dissolve because he can't see her. Well, that and...other things get in the way (STUPID SASUKE!). That's all I can say without giving more away.

Why am I bothering to explain? Because I hope you guys will stick with me if I super promise to make sure they get together at the end, even if their togetherness turns the story crappy! Why? Because I want them together, dammit! I have this really cute picture I found online of them and I was like megahearteyes! They belong together.

Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 59: The Archangel

Sakura couldn't bring herself to look at any of her teammates as Kakashi asked, "Well? Answer the question." Sakura didn't understand the question. She didn't know how to answer it. Silence reigned in the room for several uncomfortable minutes. Why would Naruto be killed? That simple statement stopped her from feeling miserable about herself and filled her with worry toward her teammate. If Kakashi was saying it, it had to be true—he'd never sounded more serious before.

Finally Kakashi stood from the bed, tucking his book into his back nin-kit. "I'm going to leave this room now. I expect you to be ready to go in five minutes." He turned to leave.

Sakura had to ask, "Where are we going?"

"The public bathhouses," Kakashi said obviously. "You're all a mess." He left them alone at that point.

xXx

Ino yawned, awake but not really, as a small hand shook at her shoulder. It wasn't the hand that brought her to full wakefulness, however. It was the quiet sniffling of a child that did it and she was upright on the brown couch, trying to find the source. What she found was the adorable little Vvim-chan, sniffling and rubbing her eyes.  
"Hey, now, what's wrong sweetheart?" she asked the girl, scooping the child into her lap and hugging her, smoothing her gorgeous blond hair away from her tear-stricken face.

"Vbim i-is n-naught-ty," the child cried in a way that made Ino's heart simply crack.

"What's wrong, sweetheart? Did you spill something?"

"I-I m-made N-nana g-go a-away!" she half-cried, half-stammered.

Ino blinked. 'What's going on?' she thought, confused as to why this would even be an issue. "Naruto didn't go anywhere, sweetheart. He's still here. Why do you think you made him go away?"

"A'cuz… I t-told N-nana I d-don't l-like h-him, a-and h-he di-didn't b-be b-by m-me w-when I wa-wake up," Vvim cried and buried her face in Ino's pajama shirt.

Ten-Ten, sleeping on the couch to Ino's right, woke up at the noise. "Mm? 'S'goin' on?" she asked sleepily.

"Vvim thinks she made Naruto leave town." Ino explained. "I'll handle this. You go back to sleep, Ten-Ten-chan."

"Mhm… 'sanks, 'no." Ten-Ten said. Ten-Ten had stayed up all night studying for the Jounin exams, which she wanted to take as soon as they returned to Konoha. Ino had told Ten-Ten to take it easy on the studying—they had almost half a year before they went home—but Ten-Ten was insistent upon pulling an all-nighter.

Ino felt it was more of a 'Neji' thing. Neji Hyuuga set the bar on Team Gai's standards so high that it was a miracle if Ten-Ten and Lee ever pulled even. At least Ten-Ten was training for herself now, though. The young minor-clan heiress used to train only in the hopes that her teammate Neji would notice her. She'd had an obvious crush on the aloof boy.

Now, however, Ten-Ten even admitted she didn't really harbor feelings for Neji in that sense. Instead, though Ten-Ten only admitted it in the strictest sense of the word confidential to Ino (not even Sakura was allowed to know of the secret), Ten-Ten's crush for Neji had disappeared to be replaced with a crush on Naruto. Her crush had only developed since Naruto's return from his training expedition with Jiraiya, but Ten-Ten said she wouldn't ever act on it because she cared too much for her friendship with Hinata.

Ino shook her mind to clear it of the sleep fuzz. She didn't have time to be thinking about Ten-Ten's new and almost unbelievable secret (Ten-Ten was hoping she was just fickle, but after seeing Naruto in black silk even Ino was ready to jump on that fangirl band wagon). Ino had bigger things to think about.

"It's alright, sweetheart. I'm sure Naruto just slept in the other room or something." She smiled and lifted the lightweight up easily, carrying her out of the living room and down the entry hall to the staircase at the end. "A lot of people tell Naruto they don't like him, but he knows they don't mean it. I don't doubt for a minute that Naruto knew you were upset about yesterday and that's why you said it. He knows you like him."

Vvim shook her head urgently. "I don't like Nana!" she insisted. "I love Nana!" She started tearing up again and cried, "B-but… N-nana i-is g-gone!"

Ino went upstairs and, trying to prove her point, opened up the door to the room Sakura was using. It was empty—the bed was made neatly as if no one had ever slept in it. 'Okay, so where is he?' "Well, maybe he's already headed down for breakfast, Vvim?" Ino said.

"I l-looked f-for h-him! H-he's g-gone!"

Ino heard movement down the hall and looked in time to see Vvim's only blood-related sibling mounting the top stair. "I heard her crying." Terrence said softly. He approached and held out his arms for his sister. She immediately went to him and cried out her story. Terrence sighed and smoothed Vvim's blond hair. "Vvim," he began but even he didn't know what to say.

xXx

He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming because there was no way in hell anyone would be mad enough to sleep in the same bed as him. There was no way anyone would willingly be in contact with him. And there was no way he would feel like he'd just woken up from a Shukaku-possession, because he was taking his medicine…

Warily he cracked open one eye and then the other, letting his sight adjust from sleep-blurred to mostly normal. He felt the form beside him shifting against him. A head came to rest on his chest; an arm slung over his waist.

He lifted his head up to see who he was with and found a familiar green-haired Konohagakurian sleeping soundly against him. To his relief, both of them were fully dressed (well… maybe not her, as her clothes weren't 'full' in any sense of the word). He was also not sleeping in his room like he'd thought at first. While he was indeed at his own home, he was actually in his unused entertainment room.

He set his head back down and tried to think what happened to get him like this—in a room of his house he never set foot in. That was when he realized how the situation was even more wrong. Glancing up, he found himself looking at a peacefully slumbering Hinata Hyuuga. His head was in her lap.

Having decided enough was enough, he carefully maneuvered himself out from beneath Fuyumi and replaced his head with Fuyumi's on Hinata's lap. The two girls curled in on each other and Gaara quit the room, wracking his mildly hung over brain for possible reasons why he might have ended up like that.

He had none. No explanations came to mind.

Tee-hee-hee… Shukaku giggled. I know something you don't know… Well, you know, you're just not remembering.

Gaara headed for his room so he could grab some clean clothes. He needed to get himself cleaned up properly. He stuck the clothes in his bath bag. He wasn't going to bother trying to get Shukaku to tell him anything; she was clearly only wanting to taunt him.

Aren't you going to ask? Shukaku inquired.

"Absolutely not, as it is clear to me it doesn't matter either way. Nothing happened of import." He informed the raccoon.

Are you sure about that?

That single question made him pause, but he quickly shoved aside his uncertainty. "Yes. I am." He grabbed his bath bag and left his room in time to run into a sleepy Kagome and a bored Itachi. They were probably on their way to Kagome's room.

Kagome rubbed her eyes lazily and glanced at him, "Oh, good morning, Gaara." She said.

Gaara tilted his head in greeting to both of them. "Good morning."

"There was some guy outside looking for you," Kagome said vaguely. She kissed his cheek and then continued down the hall in search of her room.

Gaara sighed. "Ever the detailed one, that girl," he muttered.

Itachi chuckled. "She wouldn't be our Kagome if she weren't," he joked. "I don't know who the man is either, but if you hurry you might catch him. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and was particularly round."

"Thank you," Gaara said and continued on his way out. Once he was outside his house, he glanced up and down the crowded streets of the city. A lot of people were out and about, getting their work done before the hottest point of the day hit.

He knew immediately who had been looking for him, but he didn't know why. He caught sight of the chubby man barely twenty feet away from his front door, standing in front of a food vendor shoveling food into his mouth. It was a pitiful sight, and one of the reasons Gaara couldn't stand to be around the man.

Forty-five year old Yko was most unfortunately one of Gaara's innumerable relations (although that wasn't surprising, as almost half of Sunagakure was related to him). He was slovenly, gluttonous, and scorned all those who dared to dream. It was pure irony that Yko had chosen a profession in dream interpretation. All Yko did was tell people what they wanted to hear and then take their money from them.

As much as Gaara disliked Yko, he knew he couldn't just ignore the man. Yko had never actively sought out Gaara before so there had to be a reason for it. He approached Yko with a sigh, really wishing he didn't have to deal with crazy relatives. Of course, he didn't have a choice really… most of his relatives were crazy.

"Yko, what do you want?" he asked as he approached. While Gaara knew most of his relatives were losing it, Yko probably took the cake more than anyone—both figuratively and literally, Gaara's mind added when he looked at Yko's incredible girth. The man was huge. He stood at six feet five inches but the past two years had been unkind to him. He'd gained weight like mad. On top of gaining all that weight, Yko had left his wife fifteen years ago and then two years ago he tried to come back, claiming to have been gone only a month.

'This whole family is a bunch of nutcases,' Gaara thought as Yko gulped down liquid from a canteen and then shoved the rest of his cheap street vendor meal. "Yko, don't waste my time." Gaara said rather coldly.

Yko licked his fingers and glanced at Gaara in discontent. "I hate ninja. God damn military… they'll all just stab you in the back when you're not looking anyway…" Yko complained.

"Deal with it or leave town," Gaara growled. "Now, what do you want?"

The unkempt man glared at Gaara before saying, "I heard there was a Higurashi here. Is it Huro?"

"No. It's his youngest daughter Kagome." Gaara said.

Yko perked up slightly, looking surprised. "Little Kagome is here? But she's barely crawling… Why is she here but not Huro?"

Gaara scowled at his idiot of a relative. "Because Huro is dead," he said through ground teeth. "Come back down to earth for a minute and maybe you'll realize it's been fifteen years."

Yko opened his mouth, probably to protest, but Gaara didn't stay to listen. He took off for the public bath houses and busied himself with trying to recall the previous night. All he was coming up with was annoying ambassadors attempting to reduce glass export prices.

There were a few other things—Fuyumi came around to 'talk'. For the most part, she had done the talking and he just listened. He thought he recalled agreeing to whatever it was she said but he couldn't remember what he agreed to.

The evening blurred by and eventually faded out completely until this morning waking up with his head in the Hyuuga's lap and the green haired kunoichi laying on him. 'Well, the television was on when I woke up… did I shut it off? And why did I sleep without being possessed?' he wondered silently.

He had no answers except that he was positive he didn't turn off the television. Unbidden, Yko came back to his mind. 'I'll have to do something about him.'

He arrived at the bath house and entered the male half, paying the fee to the attendant and getting a towel and soap from the man, who frankly looked ready to wet himself in fear. Imagine it: the great and powerful vessel of Shukaku reduced to bathing… how terrifying.

Well, they don't know for sure if you haven't just spent the evening slaughtering their human acquaintances, Shukaku pointed out. Which, personally, I think would be a great way for us to spend the evening. You could free up your schedule if you killed the ambassadors.

Gaara promptly ignored Shukaku and didn't bother at all with the lockers in the locker room. He was Shukaku's vessel and everyone knew it. People who valued their lives did not try to steal from Gaara.

Gaara couldn't just 'kill the ambassadors' so he could free up his schedule. While for the most part he did briefly entertain the idea, actually doing it would cause him unnecessary complications. War was one of those complications, of course, and during war the import/export industry was always hurt. So now that he was the kage, he had to play nice in the sandbox with the other kiddies.

He almost wanted to quit.

Gaara went to remove his sand gourd and was surprised to find it not present on his body. That was strange… he didn't go anywhere without it. He pinched the bridge of his nose, willing away the migraine wanting to form. After a moment, he began undressing, neatly folding his clothes and setting them next to his bath bag (it just wouldn't make sense to put his dirty clothes in with his clean ones—though just why he folded the dirty ones he wasn't sure). When he went to remove his "Sand Skin" shield—which only came off to bathe—he found it was not on.

Feeling suddenly bare (silly, since he was going to remove it anyway) he took his towel and soap and headed into the large bath, which was nothing more than a very large pool of cool water in a man-made tile basin.

The morning was still early enough that not too many people were present. A few elderly men were on one end of the pool chattering about the days of their prime (which, according to Suna's low mortality rate, would not have been too long ago). The elderly men noticed Gaara immediately and tensed as he passed by them on his way to the deep end of the pool.

He set his towel back from the edge on one of the small benches, and placed his soap in the soap bag, a drawstring cloth sack that would attach to his wrist to avoid losing the soap in the pool. With the soap attached to his wrist, he dove into the pool's deeper side and swam to the bottom. When he surfaced, he glanced discretely at the elderly men.

'Th-they relaxed?!' he thought in pure surprise. That wasn't normal. Nothing about that morning had been normal though. The manner in which he woke was especially not normal. Before too long, he was growling a bit though he had yet to notice that tiny detail. The elderly men quickly took their leave as the young kage dove under again to scrub himself clean. 'Why were they relaxed?'

Never mind that was something Gaara had always longed for—to be in a room and not be overwhelmed by the amount of fear choking him. He ignored his sudden discomfort. His gut was screaming at him to get out of the bath and discover what was going on; something was not right.

He stamped down his feelings and continued to bathe. It had been a full year since the last assassination attempt; there was nothing wrong, he was just being paranoid. Anyone who knew Gaara knew he saw shadows around every corner. This was no different.

Once more he surfaced in the deep end, shaking his wild mane of blood-red hair in a futile attempt at getting it out of his eyes. He swam to the edge and gripped it to keep his head above water, using his free hand to swipe his hair out of his face. His eyes searched every corner of the room. Nothing.

'What is wrong with me today?' he wondered, his brow furrowing in confusion.

Ah, darling, you just haven't noticed yet. Shukaku giggled.

"Noticed what?" he growled irritably, looking around for the raccoon—expecting the raccoon to appear in her ghostly form. Shukaku didn't appear and she didn't say anything more. 'Damn creature…' he thought. He slipped under water again and began to scrub his hair with the soap bag.

When he emerged once again, his headache seemed to have worsened, though it was still tolerable. He looked up at the sound of a splash and saw a blond head being scrubbed vigorously down in the shallow end. Sasuke Uchiha was slipping into the pool as well. Gaara took notice of how uncomfortable both Konohagakurian boys looked.

Figuring it wasn't just him, he swam over to the two, standing in the waist deep water. His eyes glanced over Sasuke, registering the apparent frown on Sasuke's face, to settle on Naruto's guilty expression. "Naruto," he said when the boy wouldn't look at him.

'What is wrong with him? He's acting so—glum.' Gaara thought.

Naruto turned his face to Gaara's and the young kage noticed the tears standing in those normally bright blue eyes. The brightness was gone from Naruto's eyes, leaving only a dull blue behind. "Hey." Naruto said softly, and then he winced visibly.

Again Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. This wasn't the normal Naruto; he didn't even need the six spies he had following Naruto to tell him that. Gloomy behavior just didn't suit the blond. Anyone could see that. "What's the problem?" Gaara asked.

"It isn't your concern," snapped the broody Uchiha.

"I wasn't asking you," Gaara said calmly, his eyes never leaving Naruto's.

"He's right," Naruto said quietly, averting his eyes. "It isn't your problem."

"It is my problem; whatever it is occurred in my city and involves a foreign ambassador—"

Sasuke growled, "This is personal. It has nothing to do with state affairs."

Gaara raised an eyebrow and then a piece of the night before came filtering back into his mind. Sasuke and Naruto were kissing in Gaara's Aunt's house. Gaara couldn't contain the sadistic little smirk. "Ah… I see… Regretting anything this morning?"

Gaara watched as Sasuke scowled at the water, and Naruto turned green. The tears that had been standing in Naruto's eyes began cutting steady rivers down his face. Gaara chuckled, the sound causing Naruto to jump slightly and squeeze his eyes shut.

"You're too amusing."  
"I am not," Naruto said immediately, balking at the accusing tone Gaara was using.

"You are. Crying over something so trivial," Gaara began.

Naruto's eyes quickly lost their dullness and gained a fierce and slightly hysterical glow. "Trivial? What do you know anyway?" Sasuke said nothing as Naruto raised his voice even louder. "It isn't like you ever screwed your teammates!"

Gaara's lips twisted even more in amusement at the outburst. "Plural?" he actually laughed. Naruto looked even more distraught and clapped his hands over his mouth. "My, my… you got Haruno as well? I must admit, she is quite shapely." Really, what had come over Gaara? Where was his control? What had changed in the last twenty-four hours? "So are either of them worth anything?"

He hadn't meant to say the last statement. Well, he hadn't meant to say any of it, but especially the last statement. To his misfortune, Naruto understood the slave-trading undertone of the last statement because his blue eyes lit up with fury. The next thing Gaara knew, he was crashing backward into the water with a very painful feeling in his nose and jaw.

Gaara got back up, coughing out the water he'd inhaled and pressing his fingers to his lip. Naruto had split it. He shuddered at the sight of blood as Sasuke held Naruto back.

"Let me go, Sasuke! I wanna shove my fist down his throat!" Naruto screamed in what was undeniably known as rage.

Gaara cursed himself mentally for taunting his friends' safety, but he refused to show that on his features. He had already learned the hard lesson not to threaten the safety of someone Naruto cared about. Now he knew not to even hint at it. But really, what was with Gaara? He was never so careless.

Tee hee hee, Shukaku giggled. Is my darling cub acting not himself this morning?

He cursed the demon for taunting him. 'What is with me?' he thought.

"Naruto, cut it out!" Sasuke said, gripping the blond tight to hold him at bay. "What's with you? It's not like I haven't asked worse shit!"

"LEMME GO! I'LL POUND HIS ASS!"

Gaara smirked and asked, "What will you pound it with?" Internally he was screaming at himself. He would never say something like that! Shukaku was laughing noisily in his mind; he wished he could shut her up.

"You're not helping!" Sasuke snapped at Gaara before shoving the blonde's head under water. He pulled Naruto up quickly and snarled, "Cool off, Naruto, or I'll dunk you again!" He held the boy firmly by the shoulders.

Gaara laughed callously—and so uncharacteristically—before saying honestly, "You want me to help? By what? Saying what you need to hear? Sure, why not? Who gives a flying fuck if you screwed your teammates. I guarantee Haruno would've stopped it if she didn't want it, and Uchiha—you started the shit, so you can't fucking pin the blame on Naruto."

Naruto was still scowling at Gaara, so he continued, "Or should I just say what the fuck you want to hear? Because if you want me to say 'it'll all be alright' you'll be waiting a hell of a long time. You should check your seal, Naruto, because if yours is anything like mine it means Kyuubi no Kitsune will transfer into Haruno's womb and she'll die giving birth to a new demon container. Go ahead, cry over it. Won't change a damn thing. You spilled your seed, now you have to reap what you sow!"

Naruto looked terrified. Gaara growled both internally and externally. What was he doing? He hadn't come over to taunt or criticize Naruto. He came over to ask if he could see Vvim after dinner.

Instead of stopping, instead of shutting up, like he wanted to, he kept going. What the hell was with him? "If you want someone to tell you want you want to hear, go pay a dream soother. That's their job: to tell you what you want them to, and rob you of your money. If you want to think everything will be alright, you better start running now. You're a weapon, and she's a martyr. Even if she tried to say she wanted it, if anyone finds out, no one will listen to her. They'll twist things around until they're satisfied and in the end, you will lose everything."

"You speak as though you have personal experience," Sasuke murmured. Naruto was clenching his fists; his whole body was tense and he looked like he wanted to bolt, but he didn't.

Gaara ignored Sasuke's comment, pressing forward with burning green eyes on Naruto's tense figure. "First they'll glorify her as a victim and rally support in her name. Then they'll cast shadows of doubt on who you are. They'll talk and mutter about what should be done with you. They'll hold trial, but its all for show. They've already decided—you're better dead. But they won't kill you yet."

Gaara knew he really should back down. He knew he shouldn't keep going, but he was already started; he was on a roll, so he couldn't make himself stop. "You're powerless, you can't do anything to escape, but you haven't lost hope yet. They want to kill that tiny little light in you before they kill an empty shell. So they set out to make sure your family, your friends, everyone you ever cared about hates you. They take away everything. When you have nothing left, when all hope is gone, that's when they do it. A public hanging. If you're lucky, your neck will snap. If you're not, you'll hang there, choking on your own spit and lack of oxygen until you die."

Gaara scowled at the crying blond. "And you want to know what everyone else is doing while you're dying? They're gathering around the square. They're enjoying themselves; food vendors go about the crowd of people watching you die. Some people even sell trinkets to the crowd of shameless, pathetic beings. So what is it? What do you want, Naruto? Do you want to be told everything will be alright?"

Naruto's legs collapsed beneath him, but the Uchiha caught him and held him steady. "I'm horrible," Naruto cried.

Gaara turned away from the blond and headed for the edge of the pool. He went and got his towel, wrapping it around his waist. He glanced back at Naruto and the scowling Uchiha (he figured he wasn't high in the Uchiha's grace books to begin with, but now he just had to have dropped out completely) calling out just before he left the pool room, "Don't worry Naruto. I'll take care of Vvim."

Gaara toweled off and got dressed quickly. He heard someone entering the locker room and figured it was probably either Sasuke or Naruto, most likely the former coming to scowl and be broody over Gaara's heartless words, but it wasn't like Gaara was any less surprised at his own behavior than they were…

He turned around as the person approached him and found himself surprised it wasn't either of the Konohagakurian boys, but was instead someone else; a masked figure who he—quite frankly—couldn't possibly have recognized with the ugly ANBU mask on.

"What the hell do you want?" Gaara snapped, not really in any mood to be disturbed by whoever the hell it was.

"Oh, nothing really," the person chuckled and Gaara noticed how cruel sounding that laugh was. "Just wanted to congratulate you on how positively beautiful that speech really was…"

Gaara's brows knit together. "Great. Go away."

The person chuckled again and reached up to their mask. What Gaara saw beneath that mask was frightening enough to cause him to back up a step, which meant tripping over the bench behind him. 'W-what is that thing?' Gaara's mind screamed. The person—the thing dropped its mask and stepped over the bench, reaching down toward him with black gloved hands.

Immediately Gaara went to raise his sand shield to protect him; even though he didn't have any of his usual chakra infused sand, he was still in the desert after all. Sand filled every nook and cranny no matter how many times a person swept. However, not a single grain of sand budged from anywhere, and he noticed something strange. Shukaku's chakra reserves—usually overflowing into his—were unmistakably absent. They weren't just depleted, they were missing.

The thing's hands gripped his collar and he instantly reacted, cuffing the hands away and sliding out of reach. He rolled to his feet, wondering what insane otherworldly creature he had pissed off to deserve such a foul and unbelievably unnatural morning.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the young kage demanded.

"Why, I am me and obviously I want you. Need I say mo—" the creature's bottom jaw broke off and landed with a disturbing sound on the tiled floor as bits of dead, maggot-ridden flesh fell away. In any normal situation, the creature before Gaara would've been considered nothing more than a corpse. But there it stood before him, walking and talking.

Almost as if the creature were embarrassed, it picked up its jaw and fixed it back on. Gaara winced at the sickening noise of flesh squelching as it was peeled from the floor.

"Oh, pardon me," the thing apologized. "Here I am, falling to bits before the youngest kage in history! Oh, but that won't happen aga"—with a suction sound, the thing's left eye slid from the socket and dangled loosely against the rotted cheek—"ugh, such an incompatible match."

Shoving its eye back in the socket, the creature moved purposefully toward Gaara again. Gaara assumed the thing had once been human, but that didn't exactly make him more comfortable. "What do you want with me?" Gaara demanded in a low growl. Had his fall attracted the attention of the two Konohagakurians in the pool room? He wouldn't blame them for not coming to find out what it was. He'd been an ass.

Not that he needed help…

The thing ignored his question. "This time, let's do things right."

It reached out and grabbed him by the collar again, opening its mouth wide and revealing a mouth filled with nasty little bugs. Gaara realized he needed to be fighting; he'd forgotten for a moment. That moment cost him. Black smoke puffed out of the mouth, sickly smelling toxins that Gaara couldn't escape.

The struggle took barely more than a few seconds. Then—there was nothing.

The next thing he knew, Gaara was no longer in the locker room and the creature stood before him, looking at him with rotting eyes. Confusion grasped at Gaara and clung to him. "What did you do to me?" he demanded. "What is this?"

"This?" The thing glanced around them. "This is your interpretation of Ko-chiski, which is far too complex for mortals to ever begin to comprehend." Gaara couldn't help himself; he wanted to keep his eyes on the thing, but instead he glanced around openly.

The place he was in looked like a cave he had only read about in myths. It extended high above his head, with little glistening specks of white like stars buried in the walls. He and the thing didn't actually have much room to stand. Two feet to his right the floor dropped away and was replaced with an underground lake that reflected the light from a small hole far above his head.

The creature continued, "As far as what I did to you? Nothing really big. I just took away your will."

"Took away what?" Gaara clenched his fist; why was he indulging the thing? He knew what it was saying. There was no way he couldn't know.

"Your will." The thing repeated. "Your desire to resist. Your ability to decide and choose for yourself. Your conscience if you will. Does this upset you?"

"Yes it upsets me!" Gaara yelled and then cursed for letting the outburst escape. What was wrong with him? He said all that to Naruto and he hadn't meant to, and now? Just what was wrong with his head?

The thing chuckled. "Well, you know when things started to go so very wrong with the Uchiha, I needed a back-up plan to make sure I get him."

"You're…" Gaara began, but something stopped him from finishing.

"Aren't you just so smart?" The thing laughed wickedly. "But no. I'm not your silly little snake friend." Gaara was disgusted to even be considered friends or allies with Orochimaru. "I am the Archangel—the messiah who will bring peace and glory to my—"

Gaara tried to stop himself, he really did. He tried to tell himself he had to listen but for some reason he couldn't help but drawl out, "Yes, yes, that's wonderful. What do you want with the Uchiha if you're not Orochimaru? And you can't say his eyes because quite frankly everyone wants a pair of those. Well, except me. I have a thing for green eyes." He tapped his foot impatiently before realizing what he was doing and immediately stopping what he was doing. He was quite ready to give up on attempting to be his usual, normal, stoic self as that really wasn't going to happen any time soon no matter how much he wanted it to.

"Oh my, quite the feisty little mortal you are…" the thing chuckled. "Do you not realize what value the Uchiha has? Certainly the half-mortal Orochimaru has."

"Why don't you do a good service and enlighten me, oh-great-savior," Gaara said in a rather mocking voice, although he knew if he were at all himself he would not have done it.

"I would, you see, but… sadly, I'm on a time constraint. I have things to do and mortals to infect. I hope you enjoy this time in Ko-chiski, because unfortunately I won't be releasing you from it." The thing sounded happy to inform him of that, but it didn't make him happy to hear it. When it disappeared, he immediately turned to look up at the hole far above him. Whatever this 'Ko-chiski' place was, he needed to get out.

* * *

**500 reviews? ...!•speechless• **yumeniai ('idiot' is too kind), Master XIII (Quidam... that cover is scary), Dark Inu Fan (thanks for drawing those! They're all great. Hope moving was okay), jojoma-kitsune (Please stick around. It may take me a long while, but we'll get there--after all, I do have plots to contend with, those darn things that get in the way of all relationships...), supersillee06 (pester me all you like... doesn't bother me) Akina no Hashiriya (they were betting on the 'eventual' relationship. Like, betting on whether or not Naruto and Sasuke would hook up when they got OLDER...), anonymous naruhinafan (go ahead. Pick _this_ chapter apart. Wait, my psychic ability tells me you're about to say 'ko-chiski doesn't exist in the Narutoverse...' you'd be right.), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (the boys were like ALL OVER each other...), DarkRavie, Arcander (I'm glad things fit. I was worried about that), and of course, to everyone else who reviewed chapter 58 after I posted chapter 59.

ANSWER: I know Naruto seems pretty messed up/not right in this chapter (well, so does Gaara but when is he _not_...?) but he thinks he's the cause of it and that's hitting him pretty hard. I think Gaara just made things worse though, don't you?

_Europop. Europop. They call it Europop, always Europop... (Please Review!)_


	60. The Zuma Tribe

The concept of Yin and Yang describes two opposing and, at the same time, complementary aspects of any one phenomenon or comparison of any two phenomena¹.

¹Wikipedia

Yin (陰 or 阴 "shady place, north slope, south bank (river); cloudy, overcast"; Japanese: in or on; Korean: 음, Vietnamese: âm) qualities are characterized as soft, slow, substantial, water, cold, conserving, tranquil, gentle, and corresponds to the night.

Yang (陽 or 阳 "sunny place, south slope, north bank (river), sunshine"; Japanese: yō; Korean: 양, Vietnamese: dương) qualities are characterized as hot, fire, restless, hard, dry, excitement, non-substantial, rapidity, and corresponds to the day.

* * *

Chapter 60: The Zuma Tribe

Sakura stared at the vent cover as her stomach twisted in ways she knew wasn't entirely healthy. Horror had stormed through her as she heard the argument in the men's bathing chambers.

_"Kyuubi no Kitsune will transfer into Haruno's womb…"_

It was a frightening thing to hear. It scared Sakura more than anything she'd ever heard in her life. Of course, she was always afraid of the things she heard about Kyuubi, but this took the gold medal hands-down.

Her wide, green eyes turned down to glance at her firm stomach. Kyuubi would transfer into her? What did that mean?

_"She'll die giving birth… You're a weapon, and she's a martyr."_

That caused Sakura to cry yet again, but she had to hide her tears as a group of Suni Kunoichi entered the pool room chatting amiably. She ducked her head under the water, half debating whether or not living was worth anything anymore. Half of her understood that the previous night had been an accident and nothing more. They could fix things; nothing needed to change between them. Team 7 was whole again.

But there was that unavoidable piece of her that whispered, Broken… everything was broken. There was that part of her that recalled all the times she'd seen Naruto fall silent on a mission. There was that little bit that remembered times when she actually believed Naruto was an imposter because he was so different from normal.

The words repeated in her mind like a terrible mantra. "Kyuubi no Kitsune… You're a weapon… Kyuubi no Kitsune… You're a weapon… Kyuubi no Kitsune, you're a weapon… she'll die giving birth…" Anything else she might have heard of the argument seemed faded and unimportant. All she could think of was those awful and condemning words.

And she remembered Naruto's dream diary.

_"__I have these nightmares…"_

_"Kyuubi no Kitsune…"_

_"There was a lot of blood…"_

_"She's a martyr…"_

_"I remember the body…"_

_"She'll die giving birth…"_

_"When I woke up my arms were covered in blood…"_

_"You're a weapon…"_

Sakura was not in her right mind at the moment. What she had heard caused confusion inside her. The part of her that loved Naruto and all he meant to her couldn't believe what she had heard. There was a part of her that simply couldn't believe Naruto was Kyuubi. He wouldn't lie to her.

But now there was a niggling bit of her that was doubtful. That part of her wondered if Naruto really was Kyuubi, could she have truly stopped what happened the night before? She was positive she was the cause of it all the moment she registered what happened when she awoke. Now all of a sudden she had new information and with that information came the ability to blame Kyuubi… but Kyuubi was Naruto, wasn't he?

Kyuubi was dead… or she had thought he was… Wasn't that why the fourth Hokage had died? Didn't Yondaime Hokage give his life to stop the rampaging demon?

Part of her wanted to believe Naruto was only that clueless, dead-last from the academy. Part of her wanted to believe Naruto was _good_. With the new information, that part had suddenly become just a tiny speck, and it was shrinking by the minute the more she tried to drown herself under the water.

Reason and sensibility had gone out the window even before she went under; now all that remained was the terrible thought that the Nine-Tailed Fox had raped her and all the things that would come with that action.

Rape… it was such a cold word…

Did anyone really blame a victim of rape? In general, no they didn't…

But that brought her aunt and uncle to mind and what they would say to her if they knew. They were very religious people and they would accuse her of wanting it. There was still that tiny spark of her true self that screamed she _had_ wanted it. Her true self was sure she could have stopped it if she didn't want it.

What did she know? She couldn't actually remember the entire evening, only the very start… only enough to piece things together. For all she knew she could have tried to stop it but been overpowered.

Looking at her aunt and uncle, people would say they were two of the nicest folk in town. Her aunt and uncle had raised her up as their own after Sakura's parents died. But she knew how religion could make a person crazy, and she knew how her aunt and uncle were firm believers.

She was supposed to be a kunoichi, they would say. If she hadn't wanted it, if it had been rape, she would have died defending her honor and spirituality. If they found out, they would want nothing to do with her. Even if it wasn't rape, she knew they would still turn her away. If they found out she had intercourse out of wedlock, they would slam the door in her face.

She wanted to die… Anything would be better than the future she was sure to have now.

She began thrashing about underwater, part of her wanting to surface but the larger half of her, the pessimistic half, held firm and kept her on the bottom. It would be better if she just died rather than become a plaything of the Nine-Tails. It would be better if she died now rather than waiting to see if she was pregnant—to see if she would die in childbirth. It was just better if she died.

She gasped in water as an arm wrapped around her waist in the deep water, choking on it even as she tried to fight off whomever it was that had grabbed her. She didn't manage it before they dragged her to the surface.

She coughed up water. She couldn't do this… this existing thing… not knowing what she knew. She couldn't do it knowing what lay in the future for her now. Whether the mistake was hers by choice or by failure to protect herself, her life ended the moment she kissed Naruto the night before.

Why did he have to get drunk? Was he Kyuubi? Could Kyuubi get drunk? If he couldn't, was it all an act? Was this planned?

_"Could you adjust to Naruto hanging as a result?"_

_"Kyuubi no Kitsune… You're a weapon… She's a martyr…"_

"What the hell were you thinking?" Kakashi's voice sliced into her thoughts harshly as he swam her to the edge. She could only cry as he pulled her out of the water. The expression on his visible eye softened and he carried her over to the bench she had left her towel on, cradling her like a child.

She didn't know why he was in the women's pool room, but part of her was grateful he was there with her even if she was naked in her teacher's arms. With him there, she was able to suppress the part of her that screamed suicide as the only option.

She clung to him, crying into his soaking uniform vest. He hadn't even taken it off before he jumped in after her. It would take forever to dry…

He set her on the bench and wrapped the towel around her shoulders. "Hell, I didn't think you'd react this poorly," Kakashi muttered. "What were you thinking?" his tone had softened considerably. She squeezed her eyes shut, not used to this side of her teacher. It made her feel worse than ever because he was disappointed in her.

The soaked Jounin straddled the bench beside her and gathered her into his arms, letting her cry on his shoulder. After a few unending moments he whispered, "Why?"

She barely managed to croak out, "Don't… know…" How could she explain to her teacher all the things that were barreled up inside of her at that moment? How could she explain it so that he understood? How could she explain something she didn't understand herself?

What was happening? Why was it happening to her? Who was Naruto? Why did Sasuke come back? Why did Sasuke stay if his one goal was to avenge his clan? Why would Kakashi go away and leave Itachi in his place? Why did they get drunk?

"You do know…" Kakashi assured her gently, in a way that seemed so—unlike him. "Tell me…"

Unable to help herself, she spilled everything between sobs. What happened the night before, Gaara's words to Naruto floating from the bathhouse, the dream diary Naruto kept, how her aunt and uncle would react if they found out… she told her teacher everything.

And he listened to his student's hysterics.

And then he began to laugh, or chuckle as the case really was.

She cried harder as he laughed. "N-not fun-ny!" she sobbed, pulling the towel tighter around her shoulders. "N-Naruto's just a… an orphan… we don't even know where he came from, or who his parents were… he really could be Kyuubi, and we'd never know it! He's always causing trouble, painting up monuments, defacing the town…"

Kakashi had stopped laughing. He reached out one finger and brushed the tears from Sakura's face. "His father was Kyo Uzumaki, the Yondaime Hokage. His mother was Tsuke Nara, Shikamaru's aunt. Naruto is not Kyuubi no Kitsune. Yondaime Hokage-sama gave his life to defeat Kyuubi."

"Then why did Gaara call Naruto that?" Sakura said, her faith in Naruto flawed by the mere knowledge of Kyuubi. What that fox had done to Konoha nearly sixteen years ago would never fade. Not with as much as Sakura's aunt and uncle talked about it. Not with as much hate as the villagers still harbored sixteen years later at the very mention of the date it happened.

Every year on October 17th, the villagers would lock themselves in their houses. Work was not done, school was not had, life was hidden from view on October 17th. On the 18th, the villagers left their homes. The whole city mourned on the 18th. They would gather at Kyper's Creek Bridge and everyone would throw a white Lily over the edge into the water because it was said that Lilies were Yondaime's favorite; it was said that the Yondaime believed a Lily stood for hope. When the day was over, citizens would return to their homes for a quiet night reflecting.

And on the 19th was the great Yondaime Festival, a giant city-wide celebration to commemorate the day that Kyuubi was defeated, even if that defeat occurred on the 17th.

If Naruto was Yondaime's son why did he live in that decrepit old building? Why was he even allowed near it? He should have been honored as the son of a hero.

Kakashi sighed as if he'd known he would have this talk someday, but also as if he felt that day was still too soon. Despite that, he plunged into explanation.

"Naruto is like Gaara. Where Gaara carries the weight of the demon Shukaku, Naruto carries Kyuubi. It was…" Kakashi paused as his voice became heavy with emotion. Sakura wiped her tears away, trying to calm herself enough to be logical. "It was the only way… Someone had to do it, and Yondaime wouldn't let anyone else."

But it wasn't exactly comforting to know that Naruto was a demon container and he never thought to warn his teammates.

Kakashi seemed to know her thoughts. He said firmly, "Do you believe Naruto is a danger to you? He's just a confused kid. His father only asked that Naruto be viewed as a hero, but," Kakashi was scowling beneath that mask, Sakura knew. "Instead, the village views him as a monster."

Sakura recalled the way Naruto was treated in the prison; whipped worse than a dog… It was heartbreaking when she saw it, and even now the mere thought made her angry. How dare the warden treat her teammate that way? At that time, Naruto had defied the warden. He even somehow wrapped the warden in a strange technique that dangled the warden fifty feet above ground by his ankle.

The warden had called Naruto a monster.

_"Someone explain why this _monster_ was allowed to leave his cell!"_

But what did she believe?

She needed to calm down and make a rational judgment rather than deciding within an irrational bout of hysterics. She needed to _think_. She knew full well that what was done couldn't be changed and that was probably why she freaked out so bad—bad enough to try drowning herself.

What did she know about Naruto? Truly, what did she know about him?

Dragging up memories about Naruto was difficult when at the moment she didn't want to be thinking about him or Sasuke. Still, with Kakashi there holding her like her uncle used to do when she had a bad dream as a child, she felt she had the strength to look at things sensibly.

It was true that Naruto had his own somewhat dark and mysterious side, but who didn't? And perhaps 'dark' wasn't truly what described him best in the times when he seemed so uncharacteristic… perhaps it would be better to describe him as having a _wild_ and mysterious side, as though he were more of a nature that belonged _outdoors_ than domesticated within walls.

However he seemed far too hesitant to show that side of him as they were growing up. In the past few months she'd seen more of that side of him than she had in the years before he left with Jiraiya, so maybe he had just started to finally feel safe to show his true self to her. If she went and acted irrational now, she could very well lose one of the closest friends she'd ever had.

If what Kakashi said was true and Naruto was a demon container, then that alone would explain a great deal about the blonde. It was definitely more calming to think of Naruto as a demon container than it was to think of him as Kyuubi no Kitsune hiding amongst humans.

Sakura looked up at Kakashi with puffy eyes and asked, "But if Naruto is a demon container, doesn't that mean when he sleeps Kyuubi can possess him?" At least she wasn't still feeling suicidal, but then at the same time she doubted she'd manage it with Kakashi there. He obviously wasn't too keen on his student dying.

Kakashi sighed again and flicked wet hair from his singular visible eye. "Naruto has a different seal than Gaara does. Gaara's seal is transferrable from parent to child, and every time it transfers the seal weakens further allowing Shukaku the ability to possess Gaara. Naruto's seal isn't, and keeps Kyuubi contained completely."

"What does that mean?" Sakura asked, finally calmed down enough that she managed to close the towel around herself. Naruto wasn't Kyuubi. Kakashi even said that Yondaime defeated Kyuubi, and Kakashi would know. He'd been around then to know for sure. Hell, Kakashi fought in that battle against Kyuubi, didn't he?

"That means you don't have to worry, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said, his visible eye upturned in cheer. "Naruto wasn't possessed by the Kyuubi. He can't be possessed, because his seal remains intact. And if you do get pregnant, you won't die in childbirth; its not that kind of seal."

Sakura felt reassured already thanks to her teacher. She didn't feel _better_, per say, but she felt reassured and she wasn't trying to kill herself—it was a start.

"Come on. Let's get you dried up and dressed in clean clothes." Kakashi let go of her and got off the bench, helping her up and waiting for her to head out. She did so. When they got into the women's locker room, she made a bee-line for the locker she had placed her things in. Kakashi picked a small cloth sack off the floor and set it on a bench.

"You'll just have to deal with me standing here while you change," he said and she could understand why he said that. Since she had rather abruptly attempted suicide, he probably would be very watchful of her at least for a while. "In that sack are some clean clothes I bought from the vendor across the street—if they don't fit, tie them up with some garrote wire."

Now that was the teacher she knew… She smiled weakly and muttered a thank you as he sat on a bench and took out his porn novel from his nin-kit. It was soaked, so she could easily guess he had jumped in after her without a moment of hesitation.

She promised herself she would make it up to her teacher at the first opportunity. Not only that, she vowed as she got dressed in the rather plain tee-shirt and cheap shorts (which she did have to tie up) that she would never let herself go like that again. The next time life put her in a blender and hit puree, she was going to fight against her impending doom for all those people who still loved her.

For all those people who would forgive her for whatever she did. For Ino who would be so jealous of her. For Hinata who loved Naruto so much but wouldn't hold a grudge if it killed her. For Lee who she knew adored her and yet she could not return that affection.

She realized hard times were about to come if word got out of what she had done. Her aunt and uncle would refuse her, possibly disown her entirely. Her career would have to be put on hold for at least twelve months if she got pregnant—nine to carry the baby and three more recuperating and regaining the strength she had lost in that time.

Her whole life was about to change. It already had.

But at the same time… she wasn't the only one who had to deal with the aftermath. She wasn't the only one going through a change. And she understood even with just that little bit of information, there was someone else who stood to lose more than she did.

Her life may have changed… but someone else could lose theirs entirely.

She put on her shoes, feeling a spark of determination in her chest. Just a short while ago she had been in a fit of hysterics, wondering if she had been raped by Kyuubi even as her sensible half truthfully told her she hadn't been and that she wanted what happened…

But now that she was thinking clearly, she knew she would do everything in her power to keep Naruto safe. She already knew he would do anything to protect her; now was her time to save him.

Kakashi sighed deeply as he tried to air out the green porn novel Naruto had given him. Finally he gave up and closed it, standing up to look at her as she stuffed her dirty clothes in the sack. "Ready now?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, sensei," she told him. "I'm ready."

"Good. There are a few things I want to talk to you about, which I hope will help you decide what you will do next." Kakashi's tone told her what he was going to tell her probably wouldn't be received well. Still, she didn't know what could be worse than finding out Naruto was a demon container, so she had nothing really to lose.

"Let's go somewhere," Kakashi told her. "I don't want to be overheard."

xXx

The place Kakashi took her was nothing like she had imagined they would go to for privacy. He had taken her on a fifteen minute walk and they ended up at the watering hole where dozens of people were lounging. Then again, she supposed the best way to hide was to do it in the open…

But their location told her he didn't necessarily want privacy as much as he didn't want to risk the rest of team 7 knowing what he was going to tell her. That made her apprehensive, especially when he found a seat in the sand and pat the spot next to her, beckoning her to have a seat.

She sat next to him and silence dragged on between them. She was worried about what he had to say.

Finally he said, "It kills me inside… knowing you're all making the same mistakes one after another… the same mistakes that I once made." She didn't quite understand what he meant by that.

"What do you mean, sensei?" she asked, trying to understand. Comprehension failed her. She usually did well understanding things, 'seeing underneath the underneath'. She wasn't exactly a child prodigy but she did well with people and generally could figure out what they meant through contextual clues. But she didn't know what mistakes he had ever made—or what mistakes they made that he might have.

It was assumed that he was saying it about her current situation, but he said 'mistakes' so she wasn't sure what else he might be talking about. And simultaneously, she couldn't picture him getting drunk and making such an error either.

Nonetheless, the day was filled with surprises. She woke up in bed, sandwiched between her two teammates, found out Naruto was a demon container, and now her Jounin teacher was hinting that he might have also done things he regretted.

And he admitted it within short time. "When I was fourteen, my teammate Rin got pregnant… with my child…" the surprise was evident on her face. "When I was eighteen, I ran away from Konohagakure."

"Sensei…" she didn't really know what to say. Kakashi had never really opened up to them. They knew him, but they didn't really _know_ anything about him. Now, she almost felt as if an exploding tag was just set off in her gut.

Their mistakes were hurting him, because he knew what it was like. He knew how hard things were for her—for all of them, he could empathize with them, because he had lived it. It seemed to make things even more ironic that he was their teacher.

"If I hadn't made those mistakes then, I wouldn't be able to advise you now…" he continued in a voice that suggested he had never expected to have to talk about things from his past—at least those particular things—with her of all people. "Sakura, there is a reason why I told you I ran away. Very few know about it—almost no one knows. The singular person in the world who knows apart from you is Maito, Gai."

Sakura shifted slightly, turning her body so she was facing her lax sensei. She was surprised that Kakashi would trust Gai of all people to keep a secret. She had always figured Gai was more like his student, Lee, who could not keep their mouth shut. They were always rambling about the springtime of youth or whatever.

Maybe their mouths were so full of springtime ramblings that there was no room to blurt a secret though? The thought was slightly amusing but she dragged herself away from that to force herself to be serious. She needed to listen; not doing so would not only be rude but would probably cause her teacher to clam up as if his words meant nothing to her and she was a lost cause.

She didn't want that, so she listened.

"When I was eighteen, I came here to Sunagakure on a mission. It was a simple delivery mission that any Chunin could have done, but Sandaime was determined to keep me occupied and away from Konohagakure." Kakashi stared at the water, his black eye looking rather distant.

"Why? Why would Sandaime Hokage-sama do that?" Sakura couldn't help but ask, rather than asking why his words seemed to contradict themselves. It was possible he ran away after he got back from the mission, so she felt that question wasn't as important.

"Because of Naruto… and Rin…"

"Your teammate, Rin? Why would Sandaime keep you from her?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "Not my teammate Rin… but the child who was named after her."

Sakura was confused. "Your daughter?"

Kakashi scoffed slightly, rolling his eye. "No, my daughter is a bit more spirited…" he trailed off before shaking his head again and pulling himself back into reality by glancing at her. "Naruto's sister."

Sakura's confusion grew ten-fold. "Wait, so you _have_ a daughter? Since when?"

Kakashi seemed to count mentally before saying, "Two years ago. She was, uhm, kind of a surprise I hadn't anticipated. But that's not the point. The point is," he paused before stopping entirely when he noticed her expression.

She wanted to say something. "What do you mean 'a surprise you hadn't anticipated'? I mean, you should have had some kind of warning!"

For a moment Kakashi looked annoyed and then he laughed. "Well, at least you're being more like yourself." He told her.

"I'm serious! You can't be completely surprised by a baby—I mean, you could be surprised whoever it is you're dating ends up _pregnant_ but pregnant women generally look a bit different than they do when they're _not_ pregnant! So how—"

Kakashi interrupted, "Because she was twelve and showed up on my doorstep after her mother died. Her mother had been nothing more than a drunken binge fourteen years ago—thus why I ended up with an unpleasant green-haired surprise. But like I said, that's not the—"

"It's Fuyumi, isn't it?"

His eye widened in surprise as if he realized the mistake he made by saying 'green-haired'. There were incredibly few people in Konoha who had green hair, and they were exclusive to the Shen clan. Sakura didn't know of any other fourteen-year-old Shen clan members who lost their mother two years ago, so it was rather obvious to clue together.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi continued, "We're not here to talk about me."

"She doesn't know, does she?" Sakura asked. Somehow it made her feel less nervous about the conversation if he procrastinated having it at all. Maybe if she held off long enough, he'll put the whole thing off for another day… Internally she knew doing that would be a bad idea, and also that he probably wouldn't let her succeed at holding off such an important discussion much longer but she still tried.

"No one does," he said gruffly and then added, "And I'll thank you not to tell her—or anyone. Now," Again she procrastinated.

"You should tell her, sensei! Fuyumi-chan wants to know who her father is more than _anything_ in the whole world! You shouldn't hide that from her!"

She had pushed too far because he was starting to look less companionable and more like the Jounin she had come to respect as a fighter. It was obvious that getting him to admit to Fuyumi who he was would likely not happen… but she couldn't help but feel bad for Fuyumi.

"Be still," he told her seriously. The procrastination tactic was finished; she had no choice now but to listen to what he had to say. There would be no more pushing.

"Yes, sensei," she agreed meekly.

He waited for a moment before continuing, "When I was on assignment here in Suna, I met a woman by the name of Lily Felwin—Naruto's grandmother on his father's side. I was surprised to meet her because my sensei, Naruto's father, had told me his mother died during a harsh winter. She was there, or here I should say, and she told me something that would cause me to leave Konoha to seek out answers to questions that had risen."

"What did she tell you?" Sakura asked nervously, fearing it would be bad news for her.

Kakashi didn't make her wait long. "She told me of the origin of the Uzumakis. She didn't know much, admittedly, but I set out to find answers."

"The origin of… you mean, like Naruto's ancestors or something?" Kakashi nodded. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Everything…" Kakashi told her seriously. He paused again, turning to gaze back out at the glistening desert oasis before them, and the flat face of the mountain that wasn't too far away. "Do you know anything about the Purists and the Grasslanders?"

"Of course I do!" Sakura said, feeling herself becoming a bit riled up at the thought that Kakashi might think she hadn't paid attention back at the academy during history class.

"What exactly do you know?" he asked curiously.

Sakura frowned at her sensei. He was testing her, she could see it in his eyes—or _eye_ as the case may really be. Still, she rose to the occasion and proceeded to tell him what she knew, having to push aside her current worries to drag up those old lessons. The academy felt like ages ago…

"In 212 H.E. the Grasslanders started war against the Purists to get their lands—" Kakashi held up a hand to stop her.

"Wrong," he told her sternly. "But I shouldn't have hoped the academy would change their history lessons since my days there."

"What do you mean wrong, sensei? Historians have proof that the Grasslanders were at war with the Purists in the Human Era year 212!" Sakura bit her tongue to keep herself from arguing more than she had already. It was obvious Kakashi's patience was being tried at the moment. She needed to pick her battles and listen to him.

"Yes, the historians have proof of a major battle in 212," Kakashi agreed rather tartly and she supposed this was a subject he felt he knew well if he was going to actually get rather heated about it as he was doing. "But do you really believe they were the problem?"

"Yes!" Sakura said wholeheartedly. "The Grasslanders are barbarians! All they do is sacrifice their children and make war on anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths! To this day they're still finding bodies of white men, women, and children—killed by Grasslanders!"

"How much worse are the beliefs of any tribe when your own family's religion has burned people at the stake for believing in something else? Or stoning them to death? Or hanging them? Forcing someone to believe that your culture, your way of living, just so they stay alive is hardly better. Might as well be dead at that point, because if you aren't allowed the right to believe what you feel is right, what else is left?"

Sakura felt stunned at his words, not particularly because they were _right_ but because they were _true_. Something could be true without being right, because morals—right and wrong—were viewed differently by everyone on the planet.

He allowed her a moment to soak in those words and she really did think about that. Who was she to say that the Grasslanders way of life was wrong? Sure, she did feel it was barbaric to take a virgin child, lay them on an altar, and cut out their heart while they lived just to please a god for a bountiful harvest, but… her own people were just as bad in their own way.

Her aunt and uncle were a fine example of that. They would ostracize her just because she had sex before marriage, and she knew they would. Their sense of family wouldn't extend beyond a certain point. And if she were to get pregnant, her family would do everything in their power to make sure that her child had a very difficult youth. She was well aware of these facts without needing to be told.

"The Zuma tribe was the main focus in 212 H.E. The battle took place on the very ground upon which stands Konohagakure. That battle occurred because the Zuma made their home in that place and the Purists wanted it." Kakashi told her.

"Sensei, I still don't understand!" Sakura half-whined. "I don't get what this has to do with anything at all!"

"Naruto is descended from the Zuma tribe."

Instant disbelief flooded the pink-haired girl's veins. "Are you trying to tell me Naruto is… is one of those… _barbarian_ Grasslanders?" Kakashi nodded. "But that can't be! He's Konohagakurian—even if he has Kyuubi in him, he grew up in Konoha! And you said yourself he's Yondaime Hokage-sama's son!" He waited for her to figure it out, and slowly it hit her but with the force of a catapulted boulder. "Yondaime Hokage-sama was _not_ a Grasslander! No way in _hell!_"

Kakashi's visible eye upturned in wry humor. "Human Era year 212 after months of battle and a humiliating defeat, the Purists negotiate a truce with the Zuma tribe. Human Era year 223, the Zuma tribe becomes known as the Uzumaki clan. The name was given to them by the Purists. The name itself was meant to be degrading, as 'ki' meant barbarian in the Purist's native tongue. H.E. 224 the Uzumaki clan and the Purist clans come together to form what would become Konoha centuries later, forming the Clan Council to act as decision makers for the majority."

"They… what?" Sakura's brows knit together in confusion. "Even if Naruto _is_ of Grasslander descent, there's no way any of this is true. The Purists have always been where Konoha is!"

"Not quite…" Kakashi assured her. "The Purists came from another continent entirely on the other side of the world. Their continent has long-since sunk into the sea, but the Purists were not originally from here; Grasslanders were." He paused again for a second before continuing, "Generally you can tell who has descended from Grasslanders by the color of their chakra."

She still didn't know what all the things Kakashi was telling her about had anything to do with her current situation but she let him keep going. "What color is their chakra?"

"Grasslander chakra is blue; Purist chakra is green."

Sakura snorted. "You're making this up! A medic-nin's chakra is green because its been refined!"

"I'm not making it up," Kakashi looked at her.

Sakura frowned, "You have to be. Sasuke's chakra is blue."

"He has a Grasslander in his family tree. That 'tainted' his previously pure bloodline. Think about it for a second: the Purists didn't have blood traits and yet Konohagakurians wield abilities like the Byakugan, Sharingan, Ice Manipulation, Shadow Manipulation, Lightning Manipulation… These are all abilities specific to a Grasslander tribe at one point in time."

Sakura swore she would have a frown permanently etched into her face. "So… if these blood traits are… Grasslander specific… That means if Naruto is one, he must have one, right? Or at least his family _can_ if it develops… right?"

"You're quick." Kakashi complimented her with a smile she knew he wore behind that mask. "Naruto _does_ have one, which bring us back to the reason why the Zuma tribe existed to begin with." Sakura shifted, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She was really starting to get warm sitting in the sun—she had no lotion on and she could bet that without the sunscreen she was going to end up with a bad sunburn at the end of the day.

But she didn't want to leave. She liked history; it was her favorite subject at the Medic-Nin academy. She might have been Tsunade's apprentice, but the fifth Hokage still had Sakura attending the academy to learn basic fundamental things that Tsunade just didn't have the time to go into. The History of Medicine was probably the best class she could claim to have taken.

So sunburn or not, she knew she would stick it out. If she looked like a ripe tomato tonight, maybe Ino would have pity on her and buy her some aloe. Or she could just use the, 'You may have gotten me pregnant, so you better buy me some aloe,' excuse on Naruto.

"Why did the Zuma tribe exist, sensei?" Sakura asked when the man's pause grew unbearably long.

Kakashi finally said, "The Grasslanders had been at war for half a century and to keep the peace between the hundreds of tribes throughout the continent each tribe sent their finest warriors to form the Zuma tribe. They developed a way to fuse their blood traits to create unity within the tribe—no one would have an advantage or disadvantage over another because of specialty traits that way."

"So what happened then? Did they manage it?"

Kakashi nodded. "Hundreds of traits were spliced together to create something incredibly unique. A blood trait that allowed the user to manipulate space and time."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Manipulate space and time? Are you talking time traveling?"

Kakashi paused to give himself a moment to formulate a proper explanation. Finally he said, "Perhaps not quite like that. This drags back into beliefs as well. There's no way of telling whether blood traits reflect a tribe's beliefs or if a tribe's beliefs reflect in their blood trait; that is one of those 'Chicken or the Egg' questions, but it is clear that a tribe's beliefs and blood trait are generally very similar."

"I… I think you lost me, sensei…" Sakura admitted hesitantly.

"For example, the Zuma tribe believed that the choices we make affect what world we live in. Where we live is based off our choices, therefore there must be parallel dimensions or universes that reflect the choices we did not make. This creates for an endless stream of possibilities—even the smallest decision could affect their whole world, like a domino effect, because one choice leads to thousands of others."

Sakura nodded, following what he was saying at least so far. She thought about her days growing up with Naruto as a large thorn in her side and suddenly wondered what might have happened if her aunt and uncle hadn't forbidden her from talking to Naruto when she was a young child. That was a big part of the reason why she never accepted his offer for a date of Ichiraku's ramen; that and the fact that she had a huge crush on Sasuke at the time and since Sasuke seemed to hate Naruto, Sakura was shallow enough to hate the blonde as well.

She wondered if her aunt and uncle hadn't constantly talked badly of Naruto around her, if they hadn't strictly forbid her from associating with Naruto (not that she needed much convincing at the time), how different would things be now for her? Say she went out on a date with him… What would happen if she enjoyed herself more than she thought she would? What would happen if she grew so nervous about going on her first date that she turned into a klutz?

Or say she accepted the date offer, and Naruto actually put forth the effort to clean himself up and dress nicely, act like a gentleman and everything was going perfectly until he tried to help her onto the stool at Ichiraku's—or maybe he wanted to take her somewhere else more fine dining?—and he tripped over the chair as he was pulling it out for her?

But thinking even darker than that, what if she accepted the date and everything was going perfectly until the end as he was walking her home and out of some dark alleyway as they passed by, some shady characters who knew about Kyuubi confronted and roughed up Naruto. She was assuming it was common knowledge amongst the older generation because Kakashi knew about Kyuubi, and she was pretty sure the warden of the prison thought of Naruto as the kitsune as well. After seeing Naruto get whipped by the warden and now realizing that Kyuubi was probably most of the reason why Naruto was picked on, she didn't doubt he had a hard life growing up.

So what would happen if they had a wonderful evening, but Naruto got roughed up in the end of it? Would she get scared and take off, leaving him there to suffer and be abused? Would she stand up for him and get beaten up herself? Would she go get some help for Naruto?

Pursuing that line of thought, what would happen if she stood up for him and got beaten up or maybe even chased off the abusers (although she doubted if she could have chased the abusers off at that age; she probably would be accused for conspiring with the Kyuubi…)? If she stood up for him, where would that take their relationship after that? Would she decide he was too much trouble in her life and refuse to go on any further dates? Would she feel her ruined date needed a repeat? Would he feel too embarrassed by what happened that he chose to distance himself from her?

If he distanced himself from her, would she be stubborn and insert herself into his life again? If she were to be very stubborn, would that deepen their relationship in the end?

The possibilities were _endless_. Just one simple event could go hundreds of directions—could have thousands of different endings. If she thought about what Kakashi said, then that meant the Zuma believed that there was a parallel dimension for every possibility, for every ending.

Sakura paled a bit at the thought. Going with that thought, there could be a dimension where she and Naruto might even be married and have kids by now… Not that Naruto was ugly or disgusting in any way but… ew. _Ew._ He was so not her type—very good looking these days, incredibly desirable—but still… eeeew. He was her teammate! Ew.

She shuddered and found herself suddenly wanting to tell all of this 'Zuma' business to Lee and see what he thought about it. Immediately on having that thought, she decided it would be a good conversation topic for if she got stuck alone with him again. It would change things up a bit, since so far all they talked about alone was the youthfulness of springtime and things dealing with computer technology. He was a good conversationalist—if she could just get him to stop telling her she was in the prime of her youth and spring was upon her…

"Their trait, manipulating space and time, reflected that. Yondaime Hokage-sama had this trait; he was called the Yellow Flash of Konoha because he would use the blood trait to relocate himself to another space in time." Kakashi knew her next question because he already had an answer. "The human eye over compensates, thinking they saw Yondaime move from one space to another when they didn't."

"But… isn't there a limit? I mean, Shikamaru's Shadow Manipulation only works if there's shadows, and he can only extend shadows a certain distance beyond, which means if there isn't more shadow for him to work with he can't do anything further." Sakura was quick to point that out; they had seen Shikamaru's genius at work in the Chunin exam when they were younger, and Shikamaru himself explained the Shadow Manipulation technique to Sakura one day when she ate with Team 10 under the bridge.

"That's true. And there are endless limits on the Zuma blood trait. What Yondaime could do was nothing compared to the trait's full potential. You see, the trait requires _two_ to work properly, which is unlike any other trait. Not just any two Zuma tribesmen could do it; it had to be _twins_."

Sakura's lips formed an 'o' and she gasped in surprise. "And Naruto has a sister, right? You said so yourself. And since Yondaime died—she must be his twin. So Naruto has that trait doesn't he?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Sometimes I wonder if its healthy to be so quick to understand." He muttered. "Yes, Rin is Naruto's twin sister, and yes I already know Naruto and Rin share the trait. I don't know which one of them has Yin and which has Yang, but they do have it."

"Yin and Yang? Sensei, I almost feel like all you're giving me here is questions, questions, and more questions…" Sakura told him.

Kakashi chuckled again, "Try being the one who seeks out this information. I didn't even know where to begin, and I couldn't risk taking forever or my absence would be noticed by Sandaime." He then returned to his story. "In my research, I have come to classify the two parts of the Zuma blood trait as Yin and Yang."

Sakura felt like an idiot to ask it, but she did anyway. "Yin and Yang?" She knew about Yin and Yang before but the idea that such a philosophy could relate to a blood trait—which were supposed to be simple and straight forward from what she knew of them—seemed a foreign idea.

"Yes," Kakashi told her. "Because one half of the trait deals with past choices—Yang, because we already know much of what choices we have made. The other half deals with future choices—Yin because we don't know what choices we will meet in the future and cannot really anticipate them due to the fact that in present day the choices we make now affect what choices we will make in the future."

"So there's two parts of this trait, and they oppose each other?" Sakura asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, so I follow so far… but that still sounds like time travel."

"Its not… I really don't know how I can explain it any clearer than I have done." Kakashi admitted, a little embarrassed at that fact. They fell to silence as Kakashi tried to put to words what he knew.

She tried to think of the questions she could ask that would help clear things up so she understood how something could sound so much like time travel and yet not be at the same time…

"It's been confused as time travel before," Kakashi told her.

"Okay, so if it isn't time travel, why does half of it deal with the past and half of it deal with the future?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi looked a bit at a loss before clearing his throat and saying firmly, "Okay, it's _similar_ to time travel—but it isn't precisely time travel. The Yin twin's trait takes them forward in time. The Yang twin's trait takes them backward."

"How does it affect the present if a future choice is changed?" Sakura asked, literally going out on a limb in an attempt to comprehend the difficult conversation topic. She still had no idea what any of this information had to do with her current situation, but Kakashi was sure that it was important so there she sat getting sunburn… She debated whether or not she should cast a quick sun repellant jutsu, a technique Fuyumi had made to save her ivory skin from getting sunburned, but decided against it.

Mostly because she didn't want to know if she was pregnant just at the moment. It had already been several hours since she'd been an idiot and slept with her teammates, so that would be plenty of time for her to potentially get pregnant and for her body to start making chakra suppressing hormones. Then again… it could be days before she got pregnant, if at all.

Internally, she had a very bad feeling about her situation. Both her mother _and_ her father had a long family history of twins both fraternal and identical. But if she pretended it didn't happen, then nothing happened. She couldn't get pregnant if nothing happened, right?

"If a future choice is changed, the Zuma believed that universe was set in place; the course of time leading up to that decision was limited only to those possibilities that would ultimately end in that action or event taking place. However, there are still thousands of universes where decisions lead to others…" Kakashi explained.

"Alright, then what would happen if, say, Naruto were the Yang twin and go back in time? What would his actions do to present day?"

"He goes there and if he hasn't changed anything from what has happened so far in his 'present day' by the time Yin takes him back to present day, he stays alive. However if he changes things in the past of this parallel dimension, there is a great chance that he might not exist—that he might not have been born. By changing things, he could be the cause of his and his sister's nonexistence."

Sakura winced at the thought of how dangerous the trait sounded. "So if… if Naruto didn't like someone… he could go back in time and make sure they don't exist? So long as it doesn't affect his own birth?"

"First of all, he doesn't get a choice of where he goes in time if he activates the trait. Unless it is simply to move from one location in _present day_ to another location in _present day_, which was what Yondaime used to become known as the Yellow Flash, then the trait is uncontrollable."

Sakura still couldn't resist a slight shudder. "That's a pretty dangerous trait to have…" she conceded. "Wouldn't that make him a liability? If it activates in the middle of a battle, and we're all relying on him… what would happen to us?"

"We'd probably die," Kakashi said, "because he wouldn't be there to rely on anymore. Either that or we kick it up a notch." He shrugged.

She thought about that, wondering why a trait would remain after all that time to be uncontrollable; wouldn't the Zuma—or the Uzumaki's, rather—want to develop the trait so it could be controlled? She decided to ask her sensei that question, because if anyone would know she guessed it would be him, particularly since she wouldn't know who else she could ask about it. It didn't seem like Naruto would know, after all. "Why wasn't the trait developed? I mean, Chouji, Sasuke, Neji, even Shikamaru, all of them go out of their way to make sure they can fully utilize their trait… why wouldn't the Uzumaki's too?"

"Because it isn't time travel; it's moving from one parallel universe to another. If the twins change something that domino effects and alters their history, their universe will cease to exist for them because in order for them to exist at the time they activated the Yang trait, everything has to remain the same. If they change something, that means they don't exist any longer—the Yin and Yang twins who caused this domino effect of changes will cease to exist. In other words, changing even the smallest thing could kill them." Kakashi explained.

"But couldn't they just alter something small, and then go forward and make sure they're conceived?"

"It doesn't work that way; they can't control where they end up unless it's moving from one space in _present_ time to another space in _present_ time." Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples, wincing slightly as she could already feel the pain of sunburn at touch. Kakashi got to his feet. "Lets go find someplace to eat; you're looking similar to a lobster," Kakashi told her nicely.

"At least I won't have just one small square of bright red sunburn…mine will be evenly burned." Sakura grumbled. Still, her pain would be everywhere while his would only be in one location.

xXx

He took her to a small tent near the south wall of the city's mountain surrounding. It was not the kind of place she expected to go to when he mentioned food. It seemed rather out-of-place when all the rest of the city was normal houses and this appeared to be made out of long logs and animal skin.

Strange symbols decorated the outside of the tepee, like hieroglyphs of an ancient language. The strangest symbol she saw was the one she knew the most because she saw it every day: a spiral. It was the same exact spiral Naruto had on the back of his orange and black jacket, a dark red orange counterclockwise spiral. That symbol hung above the door flap, as if to warn outsiders of the occupant.

He took her hand, pulling her into the barbaric tepee. Kakashi didn't seem to be aware of how her heart was racing, or how she felt so uneasy being in this barbarian abode. If he did, he didn't seem to care.

Sakura's mind flashed back to moments in her youth when she would sit on her uncle's lap—her on one knee and Ino on the other—and listen to her uncle tell stories of her mother and father's battles against the barbarian hordes who raided the high road. Logically she knew her uncle's stories were biased by his own hate for the barbarians, but that hate was ingrained deeply in Sakura's heart.

The worst part about knowing that was the knowledge that she couldn't make herself think of the barbarians any other way. Despite Kakashi telling her that her teammate was a Grasslander, despite the suggestion that Sasuke was one, Sakura still felt that way.

If all the people who had blood traits had a Grasslander somewhere in their history, then how could she look straight at her friends and not flinch? She'd avoided even making eye contact with any of the Zodiac-nin from the social gathering the evening before. Now she was standing inside a Grasslander's home.

Kakashi tightened his grip on her hand, tugging her across the sandy interior of the tepee. She felt nervous; her hand felt cold and clammy in his warm, gloved hand.

He indicated that she should sit on a woven mat on the sand and so she did, despite the fact that every fiber of her being wanted to run away. Her mother and father had been killed by Grasslanders—woodland barbarians… She had seen one hanging around Naruto's house a bit in the past few days, a bunny eared Golgan. She'd avoided him, not sure how she might act if she talked to him.

Kakashi left her alone in the tent and her heart nearly thumped right out of her ribcage. She was alone in this barbarian abode… Well, she thought she was until a lump she previously thought was animal skin blankets started moving on the other side of the fire pit.

The tan faced man, probably older than Kakashi, sat up rubbing sleepy eyes and… he looked so normal for a moment with spiky blond hair and bright blue eyes… At least until he turned his head to look at her and she noticed that the right side of his face was covered with a vine-like pattern of spirals tattooed onto his skin in the same red-orange color that made Naruto's jacket spiral so distinct, and the marking outside above the door flap.

The barbarian brought his right hand from beneath his blanket and pushed back the fur covers; she couldn't help but blush a deeper pink than her hair because he was naked and she seemed to have appeared randomly in his house, or tent, or whatever he thought of the primitive abode he lived in was.

How could Kakashi just leave her there? She thought he said they were going for food…

The Grasslander watched her for a moment, just sitting before her with no care for his dignity or her virtue—not that she had much left after the previous night, but he didn't know that…

After a moment, she couldn't help but look at the strange blond man and she felt disgusted by how she found him attractive and fascinating. He was a Grasslander, a barbarian! He was probably closer to Kakashi's age too.

But he really was fascinating; his appearance alone was enough to raise questions in her mind. He had a thick head of blond hair, but it seemed to grow only out of the left side of his head as the right side was as smooth as a baby's bottom (as far as she could see). The hair at the back of the left side of his head was cropped short, while the hair in the front and back as far as his ear was kept almost shoulder length. Colorful glass beads and ribbons were attached to his hair of various sizes and lengths respectively.

The right side of his head was tattooed up similarly to the right side of his face; the vine-like pattern of spirals seemed to crawl all over the right side of his body from his face straight down to his fingers and toes. The tattoos never crawled onto the left side of his body, as if someone had put an invisible line down the center of his body.

He wore strange bangles that were not just wide but thick as well, one on each ankle and one on each wrist. They appeared to be made out of wool, or else they were something that was covered by colorful dyed wools… she couldn't be sure. Around his neck he wore a hemp necklace with very sparkly stones beaded into the collar. She found herself doubting a Grasslander like him would wear plastic stones so she began to wonder if those stones were diamonds or crystals, and if so, where such a man would be able to purchase something like that without resorting to brute force and thievery.

He chuckled lowly at her before asking, "What brings you here, _yndto_?"

She wasn't sure what 'yndto' meant, but a large part of her was strangely offended by it. She bit her tongue, unable to allow herself speech because she wasn't sure what would pop out if she spoke at all. Why would Kakashi bring her here, enter without a care in the world for someone else's personal space, and then _leave_ her here? Alone?

"I gather you did not come here alone…" he said.

She managed to shake her head. Strangely enough, she felt as though the proper roles had been reversed. She felt as though he were idiot-proofing his words so that she could understand.

The barbarian stood up, turning his back to her as he made his way to a pile of what seemed to be his clothing. If she wanted to, she had a perfect shot for his back… It was only a thought, but she hated herself for it nonetheless. Even if he was a barbarian Grasslander, why would she even think to lower herself to their level? Even if her parents died because of barbaric hostility that was no reason for her to be hostile toward all of them.

But being in the same vicinity of a Grasslander made her nervous. She knew all the stories her uncle used to tell about how dangerous the barbarians were. She couldn't even keep herself from doing something very stupid with her teammates, what made her think she could hold her own against a Grasslander?

When Sakura looked at the stranger again, she realized he had dressed. His clothes were normal enough, except they were made out of deer hide: a vest and pants. Even his clothes were decorated lavishly in beads and colorful ribbons. Over top his vest he wore a wool cover that was dyed a pattern of reds, browns, and blacks. That cover was tied around him with a hemp belt.

"Who brought you to me, _yndto_?" he asked her as he slipped his feet into a pair of reed thongs.

She managed to sputter out, "M-my s-sensei…" She wondered if the feelings she had were how Hinata felt when she was overwhelmed with the changes around her. She wondered if this was how Hinata felt just before she had a stress attack… She couldn't even speak straight.

"Your sensei, mm? Who is this?"

"H…Hatake, Kakashi…" She kicked herself for being so weak. If this man was the enemy and he was interrogating her, she may as well have just given up vital information.

The Grasslander stepped back over to her with a smile that was more pleasant than she would have ever expected it to be. "Ah… then you must be Sakura, yes? I did not expect to meet you so soon…"

"Y-you e-expected me?" she asked hesitantly, not quite sure if she should even bother to try talking at all. She probably shouldn't. She probably should just try to keep to herself and inch her way out of the tepee, but she couldn't move. It was as if he had her in some sort of spell.

"Not until around October of this year," he held down a hand to her. "I also expected there to be more of you… two more. Where are the others?" Looking up at his hand, she hesitantly reached out to take it. She didn't want to… her mind told her not to, that trusting this barbarian would be a grave mistake, but her heart seemed to take over for her and all she could do was follow its lead.

She quickly found he had a warm hand. The part of her that grew up on her uncle's stories was repulsed by him, and by the fact that she was being touched by him. That part of her was disgusted to be helped to her feet by the barbarian. But the logical half of her, the reasonable half, said he was just like her.

Yet again that day, stupidity was conquered by intelligence. They were both human. Who was she to judge him? She didn't even know him. "Um," she shifted on her feet; he still held her hand in his tattooed right one. "Sensei only brought me here… but I'm not really sure why…"

"I see…" He frowned a little, releasing her hand to push his strange hair style out of his face. His eyes seemed to search her for a moment before he said with certainty, "Something has changed for you, has it, _yndto_?"

She didn't want to answer that question, so she found herself asking, "You keep calling me that… What does it mean?"

His lips quirked in slight irony, "Metal head." He chuckled and tapped the band on her head holding her hair out of her face. She bristled a bit; it was an offensive term after all… But what could she really say to it? She couldn't help but think of the man before her as a barbarian. "What did the _uiinjt_ say before you were brought to me?"

"What?" Sakura was very confused. She supposed knowing the language would've helped, but she didn't.

"Mm, yes. Your sensei… my people call ones like him '_uiinjt_' because he is not what he appears… What was he saying before you came?" The man didn't appear to want her to stall.

Sakura supposed that was reasonable enough. Even Grasslanders probably had plenty to do. If Kakashi brought her to this man, there must have been a good reason, right? She hoped she wasn't mistaking Kakashi's purpose for something it wasn't as she summed things up for the man.

"Sensei was telling me about the, um, Zuma grassland tribe."

This strange man smiled as though amused. "My curiosity grows, _yndto_. What changed to bring this about? He was very firm on waiting ten years ago; why would he speak up now?"

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She didn't want to admit out loud what happened. "Um, my team… made a bad choice, I guess," she didn't know what was prompting her to trust this man—whether it was because he looked so much like Naruto (with not-quite-subtle differences) or because he seemed a good sort—but she felt she could tell him anything and he would never speak a word of it. "Um, I think sensei was trying to tell me something about the Zuma, because he said my teammate is one of them…"

"Ah, I see… I think I know why you are here now…" He smiled and cupped her hand in both of his. "I am Cuauhtémoc, a barbarian as you _yndto_ like to call me, from the Zuma Tribe. You are here to find out how your life would be now if you had made a different choice, taken a different road, yes?"

She couldn't respond. Even if she could, what would she say? 'Hey, yeah, lets see just how much better off I would be if I hadn't slept with a harem last night—rub some salt in the wounds that won't heal!' Yeah, right.

Finding out he was from the Zuma tribe was, although a bit expected, was somewhat surprising at the same time. If Naruto knew about the Zuma, would he look like this man? With a half-shaved head, tattoos patterned all over half of his body and sleeping naked in the desert in a tepee? If Naruto grew up with the Zuma, would she even _know_ him?

Cuauhtémoc's hands glowed a warm blue around hers as he gathered chakra in them. She flinched and pulled back, but he grabbed her firmly by the wrist and held her there. "Be still, _yndto_. Even if you are with child, my magicks will not hurt you."

She wasn't allowed a chance for further surprise. She hadn't said anything about what their bad choice was, so how did he know that was why she pulled back? She hadn't pulled back in fear of him like she would have anticipated doing, but rather she pulled back because she knew if she were pregnant and suffered a chakra induced miscarriage, she would never have children after that. Her uterus would be ruined if that happened, and she did want to have children _someday_.

Not even a few seconds had passed and his chakra was soaking into her arm. She could feel a rush of excitement pass through her as she felt his chakra. Where his hands touched her, he seemed to leave behind the strange counterclockwise spirals on their vine-like pattern, and the red-orange markings stood out on her sunburned skin.

He had let her go, but the chakra he put in her stayed. It passed warm and pleasant through all of her, seeming to fill up the cracks that the recent changes in her life had left.

"Now go… I am sure your sensei is near; he would not leave _yndto_ alone with a Zuma for long."

Suddenly she felt flooded with unanswered questions. "Wait! Was that your blood trait? Or what was that? Some other technique? What did you do to me?" Granted, with the curious rush she was feeling at the moment, she wasn't complaining. But she still wanted answers.

"It is called a blood trait by some, but my people call it _réhir_. It is a gift of relocating oneself to another point in this world or any other." He placed his tattooed hand on her shoulder and she wondered what he had done to make her no longer fear him.

"Like time travel?" She couldn't let that drop; the way Kakashi explained things, she felt as if it was a blood trait that allowed time travel, which didn't seem to make sense with their beliefs if they thought the world would be destroyed if anything in the past changed.

"No, _yndto_. You ask many questions and I have given you the answers but it is not surprising I receive nothing in return." She flushed slightly, realizing how little she had truly given him. Still, he gave her something—she wasn't quite sure what, but it felt important and truly wonderful.

"But _what_ answers? I don't understand! What is this? What do these marks _mean_?"

With a patient sigh, he traced one of the spirals now patterned on her right wrist. "This is the sign for '_réh_'. It means 'world'." He ran a finger along the vine that connected each of the limited number of tiny spirals. "This is the sign for '_ir_'. It means 'touch'. When we use the blood trait, as you call it, we touch another world—parallel, but not the same."

"But sensei said you can't control your trait!" she was amazed that Kakashi seemed to be wrong, but if what she was thinking was correct, this man, this 'kwaw teh mok' as his name was pronounced (she was going by how he said it), had just used his blood trait on her. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but it sure felt alright… "And that you need a twin to use it!"

"My sister is dead, killed by _yndto_ many years ago." She winced and opened her mouth to apologize, but he cut her off, still speaking calmly. "But her death does not mean I am without magicks. It only means I can no longer affect that which has gone before."

Cuauhtémoc ran his thumb down the bare left half of his face, adding, "This is that which comes before now." He ran his thumb down the tattooed right half of his face. "This is that which comes after now. I could take myself to tomorrow, but without my sister I cannot come back to today. If left untrained, _réhir_, just like any other tribe's magicks, will activate on its own. It has taken me thirty years of practice to have my control. Now please, go. You have an unusual growth to think on, yes?"

Sakura winced and immediately thought of the previous night. Could he somehow tell she was pregnant? She hadn't mentioned anything about her evening, and yet he seemed inclined to assure her his chakra wouldn't harm the baby—if there was one. It was quite an unusual thing to point out randomly.

She quietly stepped out of the tepee and found Kakashi sitting across the street as if he'd been there the whole time. The Jounin was just sitting on the ground with a crisp, new green porn novel, although the one from Naruto was poking out of his nin-kit.

She had gone there, and it seemed Kakashi wanted her to come away with answers. All she learned was that Naruto might actually have family or a tribe or whatever somewhere in the world, and that this particular potential family member's sister was killed by—most likely—shinobi.

Why did she feel she had more questions than she went in there with?

"Are you hungry?" Kakashi asked her cheerfully. She glowered at him.

xXx

Jean-Michel


	61. The New Uzumaki District

TITLE: KOUFOMASU  
Author: TK

Summary: Yeah, this story is totally Orochipants/Naruto paired. Orochimaru is his big bad self, totally snakelike, when Naruto stumbles upon him all injured and stuff. So Naruto, being the kind, forgiving type he is even though Orochimaru totally stole his best friend-slash-lover (Sasuke) Naruto takes him in and cares for him. M-preg, yaoi, yuri, het, and of course, Naruto gets his own co-ed harem. Mainly Naru/Orochi, but also has NaruKO/Sakura/NaruTO, NaruKO/Ino/NaruTO, NaruKO/Sasuke/NaruTO, NaruKO/Hinata/NaruTO, NaruKO/Gaara/NaruTO… various other pairings contained within…

I would like to thank Feathergriffin and Arcander for being awesome. And for their help, but if they weren't awesome they wouldn't help me. So thanks for being awesome!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW FROM NOW ON IF YOU THINK YOU SEE FORMATTING ERRORS! Half of this was supposed to be on the last chapter.

* * *

Chapter 61: The New Uzumaki District

Jean-Michel, can you be any slower? _Could you look any less feminine, Francine?_ It's Frankie! How many times do I have to tell you before you get that through your thick skull?

Democles felt his nose twitch as he listened to the arguing from afar. This 'chunin' exam was ridiculous, really. The only reason he had signed a contract with Mist Country—became a contract shinobi—was because his people wanted him to have world experience beyond Golgawood and its various separate tribes.

He didn't need to partake in the exam. He was already superior to all the others in it. The only ones he felt he ought to keep an eye on were Naruto's kid Frankie—though from the sounds of things between her and her teammate Democles figured she wouldn't make it past the physical trial—and one of the Zodiac women. Specifically the one they called hn'On.

He couldn't even be sure if he should worry about hn'On, but he did know that Naruto regarded her highly. The language barrier kept Democles from learning anything about hn'On by listening in.

"I'm _bored_, Cleo!" Qm whined from her sandy bed. Democles looked down at her. Paying attention to what the winds were saying was hard enough with sand in all four of his ears. Paying attention when Qm whined was damn near impossible.

Like him, Qm was a Grasslander out to seek world experience. In normal circumstances, Democles people and hers got along about as well as two rabid carnivores; she was a marsh dweller and built her village like a pier extending out into the waters of the marsh. Her people usually cut down his trees to build things, which didn't make any of the tribes of Golgawood very happy.

Qm and Democles didn't exactly like each other but they weren't trying to kill each other either which was more than most of their people could say after being stuck together for two years. "Go build a sand castle." Democles suggested.

"Cleo, seriously—if we're going to get those orbs, we should get going. The desert is a lot bigger than Golgawood." Doty said.

Cleo sighed. With these teammates, listening to the winds was damn near impossible. He was certainly going to need a lot more training and a lot more experience if he was going to be a Scrye for his tribe.

"Or we could just wait for someone to come back with the orbs," Cleo suggested.

Doty huffed slightly. "That's just like you to say that."

"Why?" Cleo asked, lifting one eyebrow in curiosity. He was never quick to temper, but he did feel the accusation all the same. "Because I'm a _barbarian_?" He actually felt a bit amused as he murmured that and Doty winced.

"I didn't say that…" Doty amended as Qm sat up to glare harshly at Doty. This was the rift between their team. They had two 'barbarians' and one 'metal head'. Qm and Democles only wore the forehead protectors because they had to. It was in their contract to do so but neither Grasslander took to the ways of the metal heads. "It's just," Doty sighed.

"Like me," Democles smirked and fingered the string on his long bow. Doty laughed hesitantly; a Golgan never missed… she knew that. She wasn't always so nervous around him. Only when he twisted her words around on her, and he didn't usually do that.

"Cleo, lets go," Qm told him, glaring at Doty. Qm wasn't as cool headed as Democles was. "Let's just find some brat and steal the orbs from them."

Cleo smirked in agreement and looked at Doty. "Remember who you're talking to, yes?" She just nodded. "Qm, be quiet now. I need to hear."

Qm let out a low whine from the back of her throat, silencing after a glare.

Democles once more began directing the winds around him using his magic, trying to hone in on Frankie's team again. Instead of hearing Frankie's team, he heard a low howling that sent a shiver down his spine. His forest had many creatures that howled, but he never heard anything like _that_ before…

Curiosity struck inside him and he said, "Let me see the map, Doty." The girl procured a map of the desert; on its center was Sunagakure, just at the edge of West Sands where it met up with South Sands. Six ancient ruins were marked off, one in West Sands, two in North Sands, two in East Sands, and one in South Sands. The physical trial for the Chunin exam was simple: collect an orb from the West Sands ruins, North Sands ruins, and East Sands ruins and get back to Sunagakure before the end of the physical trial. They would have until the end of September to accomplish that.

Or—they could collect an orb from the ruins in South Sands which was supposed to be guarded by some sort of dragon or demon. Democles held the map according to the compass, with north pointing north. The strange thing about the howling was that it wasn't coming from the same direction that the South Sands ruins were in…

Frowning, he gave the map back to Doty and fingered his bow string curiously.

Qm said, "Let's do something already!"

Democles nodded. "Alright, fine. We'll head to East Sands first. It seems most of the teams from other countries are headed straight for South Sands, and there are only two orbs there…" Any team who got an orb from South Sands would get to bypass the prelims—if there was to be a preliminary round.

Democles didn't mind a preliminary round if it gave him a chance to bump heads with a few good looking men (and there were plenty to spare, even if they were a bit young for the nineteen year old's tastes).

"Where are the Suni teams going?" Doty asked, realizing that by 'other countries' he hadn't meant countries other than Mist.

"They're all headed to West Sands first, I believe." He couldn't be certain, of course, mostly because once the howling began it didn't seem to stop. It was getting so annoying, he simply had to stop directing the winds. If he couldn't hear the other teams over that howling, there was really no point wasting magic on it.

"Why aren't we going after the South Sands?" Qm asked, bouncing to her feet and brushing herself off. "I don't feel like fighting in the preliminary rounds. I just want to beat the strongest metal head and prove the greatness of the Terra Tribe!"

"We aren't going because there are only two orbs there and if you weren't listening, that Chunin Examiner told us there's a demon guarding the South Sands ruins!" Doty insisted.

Democles chuckled. "Actually," he said honestly, "if we end up in the preliminary rounds, there's every chance I can take my shirt off in front of Naruto. I won't give that up even if I have to kill you both and impersonate you using my magic."

Doty rolled her eyes while Qm looked furious. "NARU_KO_ IS MINE!" she yelled.

"Naru_to_ is a _man_," Democles pointed out, which only made Qm look more angry. That was the point where Democles blocked out his teammate's screaming. It was so nice to be able to control where the winds went; that way, she could scream all she wanted but he never had to hear a bit of it.

He thought about that howling noise as they started for East Sands. The sound had come from the North; he would just have to monitor the winds frequently to make sure they didn't run into whatever made that sound. It was unearthly…

xXx

"There you are, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto pulled his arm away from his eyes and turned to look at Lee as the green-clad boy crunched through the sand toward him. Lee looked a bit red-eyed and red-faced, but otherwise was fairly normal in appearance.

Naruto tried to ignore Lee and put his arm back over his face.

Lee sat down next to Naruto's prone position, dangling his feet over the edge of the mountain cliff. "Sasuke-san is worried about you, Naruto-kun…" Lee told him.

"I guess…" was Naruto's only response, spoken in a quiet tone that seemed highly unlike him.

Lee looked at his friend in worry, his black eyes checking Naruto's figure for damages he couldn't locate. Naruto was still wearing the nice clothes he'd worn at the gathering the night before. The only difference was the carefully folded strip of white silk Naruto had lying on his stomach.

"He has everyone out searching for you." Lee added. Lee currently had a massive migraine; he'd been shaken awake by Ten-Ten and Ino around twelve thirty PM (he felt he could have easily slept through until dinner) and was told that something bad happened that upset Naruto.

That was all Lee was told, except the fact that Sasuke was really irritated and worried about Naruto. He was told that he should take Terrence with him—to travel in pairs of two and potentially avoid nabbers that way—but also that Sasuke insisted if any of them found Naruto, to just contact Sasuke and leave Naruto alone otherwise.

Lee couldn't follow that. One, he couldn't bear to be in Terrence's company (well, the guy _was_ dating the love of Lee's life after all) so he sent Terrence away. Lee's excuse had basically been that they could cover more ground if Terrence got one of the other Genin kids to help him. And reason two was that Lee couldn't just leave Naruto be; not when Naruto looked so thoroughly miserable.

"Thanks for the warning—I'll keep an eye out for the torches and pitch forks…" Naruto mumbled.

Again, Lee tried to engage his friend in conversation. Lee never was one to just give up. He wondered what exactly might have put Naruto in such a horrible, miserable mood. According to what Lee could recall of the night before, Naruto had been in a really good mood. Naruto did look a little annoyed when he was talking to that bunny-eared fellow, but he'd still been companionable.

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" Lee asked. He already pretty much knew the answer to that, but he still had to ask.

"Peachy," Naruto said roughly. He leaned up on his elbows to glare at Lee with a scowl planted firmly on his face. "How did you find this place? No one but me knows about it!"

Lee smiled at his friend. "This mountain has been here since the desert was the sea, Naruto-kun. I just cannot imagine you are the only one who found this landing." Naruto's frown deepened and that strangely foreign hard look in his eyes grew darker. Lee pressed forward anyway. "What happened? Why are you so upset?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Naruto snapped and turned away. The blond boy stared down at the desert city. If a simple look could start a fire, Lee thought the whole city would have been razed. It caused a small chill to race down Lee's spine before he assured himself mentally that Naruto wasn't his mother.

Turning to a different tactic, Lee hoped to pull Naruto out of his odd funk. Naruto was his friend—Lee couldn't leave his friend alone now. He thought, 'Maybe if I open up to Naruto-kun, he won't feel so alone…'

So Lee changed the subject. He looked down at the city from their place on a cliff high above the city, about halfway up the mountain that surrounded the city of Suna. "I broke my collarbone once." Naruto said nothing; Lee didn't expect a reply. "Yes, I broke it when I was nine." One-person conversations were sometimes easier; _monologues_ were easier, as they were more accurately termed. Then he didn't have to deal with so many interruptions.

"Min-san took me to the hospital for the injury. The doctors took x-rays of the break and ended up finding the chip in my head." Still, Naruto had nothing to say. If it weren't for the fact that Naruto was quite visibly next to Lee, Lee might have thought the blonde had disappeared with how quiet he was.

"The doctors were baffled by this, because it wasn't natural. They wanted to run a lot of tests on me; take me apart and see how I could function with it… Min-san was furious."

Finally Naruto turned his head toward Lee, and for the first time Lee noticed the crimson, slit pupil eye. He was careful not to let his surprise over it show, but it did make him smile just a little. The fact that Naruto had that eye was proof enough that Naruto was slowly releasing Kyuubi. Maybe others might not see it as a good thing; in fact, very few would see it as good. But Kyuubi shouldn't be caged still, Lee thought. Kyuubi wasn't good, but he wasn't bad either.

"You see, Naruto-kun, the chip in my head is not what you would think it would be. It is not a chip in my skull or anything like that." Again Lee let his eyes roam over the city below. "It is a piece of the most sophisticated technology of the Age of Arthlezenithites."

Naruto's eyes went wide at hearing that. Disbelief clouded his eyes for just a second before he began piecing things together. Lee knew Naruto was undeniably smart. He could be a bit daft at times, especially on matters of the heart, but stupid was something Lee would never categorize his friend as.

Still, Naruto said nothing. "I cannot really tell anyone…" Lee admitted. He hadn't truly admitted anything, but he'd given Naruto enough of a hint that the blond would be able to figure things out. "I can tell anyone I like, but the consequences are mine to deal with, and unfortunately it is in human nature to seek power and use it to their advantage. So—I cannot really tell anyone. If I tell no one, then no one knows. I cannot afford to let untrustworthy people into the God City and learn the secrets of my people…"

There was a spark of renewed life in Naruto's eyes, and it almost looked like a great weight had been lifted from Naruto's shoulders. Naruto sat up and crossed his legs; his black silk outfit was just covered in the desert. He started to finger the strip of embroidered white cloth he'd had on his chest. Still, he said nothing.

"So, I say nothing," Lee continued. "If I were to…_know_ something…I would not tell. If, say, that _something_ had to do with a fox, a boy, and a seal…" Lee guessed that Naruto's current issue was something to do with Kyuubi after the pitchfork comment. "I would want to tell that boy he is not alone—if I ever were to meet him, of course."

Finally Naruto spoke… softly, hesitantly, he said, "Of course… If you met him…"

Lee smiled and reached out, patting Naruto's shoulder. "And… if that boy… who is a very accomplished and remarkable shinobi of our time—shining with the purity of youth and the spring," Naruto grinned weakly but it was better than his previous scowling frown, "if he ever were to come forth and reveal his secret—which he has known since he received a field promotion to Genin—to me, or to his other friends… I would be there to support him, and I know his other friends would surprise him by their responses."

The two fell into silence for a minute, and Lee could tell Naruto wasn't feeling quite as miserable as before. Lee scraped himself to his feet. The hot sun was sinking behind the mountains and the evening was soon to be upon the city. The Chunin physical trials were well underway, and Naruto's family was probably getting worried.

"Just a word of advice, Naruto-kun," Lee told the boy with a sparkling white smile and a thumbs-up. "If you do not want to be found, do not be so predictable! Anyone who knows you will look in high places if you are trying to hide."

Naruto merely nodded sheepishly and Lee turned to grip the mountain wall and make his rocky descent down. Rock climbing was difficult for Lee; it was one of his bigger challenges in life, actually. Still, as Gai always said, 'To excel is to be in the prime of youth!'

Naruto turned to Lee and said, "How do you know exactly when I found out about…" he trailed off, obviously not quite ready to blurt out the truth.

But that was okay with Lee. He smiled again and said, "I know a lot about a great deal. For instance—your sister." Shock spread across Naruto's face. "Her name is Rin Elia… Do not stay too long up here, Naruto-kun. Climbing down will be dangerous after dark."

Naruto nodded, confusion and frustration taking the place of his previous depression. Satisfied that Naruto would be perfectly okay now, Lee set off down the side of the mountain. Really, all a person had to do was let Naruto know he wasn't going to be alone… The blond had a remarkable determination for survival and would take himself the rest of the way; why Sasuke was dumb enough to not know this, Lee didn't know.

Then again, Lee never could bring himself to like Sasuke very much to begin with; he could never get over the fact that Sakura always had a crush on Sasuke, and that made him dislike Sasuke in a very unfriendly manner…

Thoughts for another day, Lee supposed.

xXx

Neji turned to look at his new clan leader, firmly trying to keep the glower from his face. He had spent much of Monday and Tuesday thinking about his current situation and was decidedly unable to view it in a good light.

Hiyashi had beat the crap out of him and basically chucked him away like a chef would a piece of spoiled meat. Then, he had ordered Neji to basically spy on his _new_ clan, and to make sure that the clan's political views matched Hiyashi's. Neji knew what would happen if he _didn't_ do it willingly; Hiyashi would just use the Caged Bird Seal to force him to, and that would end in pain for Neji and Hiyashi would still get what he wanted anyway.

It was difficult to dislike Rin, however, and even after just two days he was already categorizing differences between her and Hiyashi. One of the biggest differences he had noticed was her warm tone of voice. By Tuesday afternoon, the swelling in his eyes had gone down enough that he could finally open his eyes, and he had noticed Rin's atrocious sense of fashion. Neji wasn't exactly big on fashion (he wore gray, black, and white generally) but he did believe that a person's attire reflected their professionalism.

Neji watched her with narrowed eyes that Tuesday evening as she sat on the floor of Lee's bedroom, humming one of the many foreign tunes she seemed to know from her childhood as she folded up a basket of dish towels Min had washed.

The girl was an enigma—he just couldn't figure out what made her tick. What kind of clan leader folded _dish rags_? Wasn't that a job better left for the slaves? And there he was, a slave to fate, and yet she had almost _forced_ him to leave the job to her. She refused his help; he had tried to do it for her as he very well should… didn't she know that was how things were _done_?

The slave was not supposed to be staying in bed when there was work to be done. He was a disgrace, and the only reason he was actually still sitting on the bed was because she had snapped at him after losing her patience. He'd been scolded—although now that he thought about it, she hadn't really scolded him at all. Her version of 'snapping at him' wasn't like any person he had ever met. While he could tell Rin was the type that could get easily riled up (and when she did, it wouldn't be pretty) she also was undoubtedly laid-back on things he couldn't imagine any clan leader to slough off about.

The way she had snapped at him was just so unusual. He had tried to get her to let him take care of the folding—honestly, he didn't want to fold towels, but it was his place to and surely as the leader of a clan she had more important things to do than fold towels such as sort through the seemingly endless piles of tote boxes containing personnel files of each clansmen she was taking under her banner (a stack which only continued to grow)—but she pushed him away. She had teased him, saying, "Does the great shinobi think I can't handle a few towels myself?"

It didn't seem like a reprimand after he'd reflected on the words for a good ten minutes, but at first he had felt like he had said something he should be punished for. He had pushed even after she said 'no', and Hiyashi would have punished any of his slaves for arguing with him.

Neji wanted to see Rin's bad side. Everyone had a sweet face they put on to mask their inner demons, but he had yet to see Rin's. Sure, he could tell she could easily become very… _passionate_ seemed to be the proper word… about things she held strong beliefs in, but at the same time he didn't know how that passion translated. Hiyashi's generally translated as violent and abusive to his inferiors.

The waiting… the worrying Neji was suffering over Rin's potential temper was almost enough to cause him to fidget and bite his lip. He had no idea what her strengths or weaknesses were, he had no idea what worse things he might suffer if he were to try defending himself against her if she were enraged by him… He knew nothing about his new situation except that he had to 'befriend her and sway her views'.

She certainly was odd… She had stayed at his side at the hospital until they let him go earlier that Tuesday morning. Clan leaders weren't supposed to care about their inferiors, and certainly not about their slaves. Yet she stayed by his side and even continued to replace the cool, wet cloth on his eyes and assisted him when he was thirsty and when he was finally allowed to eat…

She had fed him Monday evening. It was the single most humiliating moment of his life, to be that weak. She was the only one who saw it, but that was still enough. If it weren't for his stern control on his emotions, he might have been humiliated enough to start tearing up.

Watching her now from his place on Lee's bed (to think, he was sitting in a propped up position in _Lee's_ bed), Neji just wanted to figure out what was going through her head.

There was a knock on the doorframe and both Neji and Rin turned to look at who stood in the way. It was Min-san, Gai-sensei's wife, and she looked amused as she glanced from Rin to Neji and then back again. At last she said, "Rin-chan, dear, the realtors are here to take you to District E12 now."

"Now?" Rin asked, looking toward the window in confusion. "But its already dark."

"That, my dear," Min stated firmly, "is why Gai will be going with you. Of course the realtors say they're _too busy_ to fuss around during the day, but I don't trust them at all. They'll show you the pathway to get to E12 and you can go back there tomorrow on your own." Min glanced at Neji, looking him up and down again as if gauging his well-being by appearance alone. He figured he knew what was coming, but as usual he said nothing. Not speaking was ingrained into his skull as proper behavior for an inferior—to which he was to both of them, in a manner of speaking.

Min added, "Neji-kun, I hope you're feeling better, because Gai insists you tag along." Her tone told Neji that it was actually her insistence, but he didn't dare object.

He was surprised when Rin said, "He can stay—I'd rather he rested."

Min's quick look told Neji not to disobey. He offered slowly, "I am fine, Uzumaki-sama… If Gai-sensei insists, he assuredly has a reason."

Rin looked dubiously at him before sighing. "If you're sure you're okay…" He only nodded. The truth was that his various bruises screamed constantly at him when he made even the slightest move. He could barely remember a time when he had been so thoroughly thrashed.

Rin got up, taking the basket of folded towels with her. "Alright then, I suppose we should be heading off…" Neji got to his feet, unable to hold back the small wince as he felt pain lancing through him. The pain was unsurprising—his entire chest was one big black bruise.

He hoped Rin didn't see it; if she did she made no indication of it. She handed the basket of towels to Min and then made her way to the front door. Rin put on her shoes and Min handed her a jacket. Gai-sensei, unusually quiet for his usual nature, was by the door with two stern looking men who Neji guessed were supposed to be the realtors.

Having never dealt with realtors, Neji didn't exactly know what they were supposed to look like, but these ones didn't look like businessmen. They looked like they were prepared to make a long trek and were dressed in casual attire—tennis shoes, jeans, and leather jackets. They took a look at Rin and one of them sneered at her, though neither said a word.

"Alright, I'm ready," Rin said just as Neji finished putting his shoes on. "Show me how to get home."

The walk was long—an hour of silence, to be precise. Neji was tired after only twenty minutes, tired and pained, but he said nothing of it. They walked through the city and found a small, near completely obscured pathway behind Hokage tower that cut a trail up the mountain. Neji was surprised when they reached the top of the path; it traveled down into a vale that was absolutely breathtaking in its pure glory. They stood there, looking down at the incredible and purely photogenic scenery.

Moonlight washed over the vale, the full moon and the stars all bright enough to reflect the evening dew that had misted over the grass and off the small lake at the bottom of the mountain near where it appeared the pathway would come out into the valley. On the far end, giant trees stood in their ancient grandeur enough to make a deep woodland area.

From where he stood, Neji could see the river that snaked its way down the far mountains on the other side of the valley through the heart of the small forest where at some point in the forest it seemed to branch off. Two smaller rivers snaked out of the forest, one of them cutting across the valley to feed the lake, the other one leaving the forest and breaking up into several small creeks that ran in wayward directions for a time before rejoining and connecting with the mountain opposite where it ran down.

The only thing that appeared out of place in the scenery was the small hut near the outskirts of the forested area, and the eerily flickering fire in front of the hut. He could just barely make out the roof of a small well a short distance from the hut.

Rin placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and stood on tip-toes to tease him quietly, "Don't hold your breath too long…"

He shook himself out of his stupor, but only mentally of course, and turned to look at the strange young woman. "This?" he asked, barely able to keep his voice from catching in his throat. She nodded, and suddenly more than ever he wanted to know about Rin. How in fate's name did she acquire such a magnificent district? He could already tell it was at least twice the size of the Hyuuga District, and that was being modest.

He looked back at the scenery—it was so… perfect… So calm and welcoming, he almost forgot about Hiyashi's promise to remove the Caged Bird Seal. He felt like he could just stare at the vale from that spot and remain content forever.

The realtors were talking to Gai and Rin, and Neji hadn't even been paying attention. He quickly dragged himself back to the present in time to hear one of the realtors say, "This path here leads down into the district past the pond there," Neji thought 'pond' didn't do that large, glistening water body justice, even though it was smaller than a normal lake, "and as you saw it leads out to behind Hokage Tower. You own approximately ten feet of the flat land in front of the mountain on the city side, and then ownership continues around the district, up the slopes there, and to the top of the mountain around the entire district. If it sounds like a lot of property, that's because it is, though you will quickly find that none of it is capable of modern development."

The second realtor continued, "We will have proper maps drawn up for you; it is your responsibility to clearly mark exactly where the district lines are and you will have thirty days from this Sunday to mark where the lines are if you do not wish for accidental trespassers. City officials will check the lines and you will receive a fine of one thousand dollars for every inch your border passes into city land. To avoid fines, it is recommended that you build your border five or more feet back from the edge of your property."

"Send me the information I need to know," Rin said calmly, her brown eyes boring into the faces of the two men. "I will expect to receive it in the post no later than tomorrow afternoon." She really wasn't giving them time to procrastinate, was she? For such a small thing, he really thought she could make a great interrogator because her presence seemed somehow royal, and very imposing.

"I'll see what I can do," the first realtor suggested, and one of Rin's dark eyebrows lifted up slightly.

"You'll have to do better than that." She warned the realtors softly.

"I'll bring it over myself," the second realtor replied sharply, jamming his hands into his jacket pockets. "Do you want to go down for a look?"

Rin shook her head. "Not at the moment, no. But tell me; why is that fire there? I was told no one would live here. It has been empty for over a decade, yet a fire now burns down there?"

Neji had wondered that himself. The first realtor said, "The place is haunted…There's rumors of—"

The second realtor—the one who had initially sneered at Rin back at Gai's house—elbowed the first and glared at him. "What are you on about? I told you a thousand times; it's not haunted." He turned his cold look on Rin and Gai, not even sparing a glance for Neji though that wasn't surprising. "Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's on about."

"Oh? But you have yet to explain why there is a fire there," Rin said, putting one hand on a hip. "The council isn't _hiding_ anything, are they?"

"No," the second realtor said a bit too quickly. "The fire is made of chakra stones—it lights at dusk." Neji wasn't about to believe the man, but Rin's expression pretty much explained that she'd sold on that hasty explanation.

"Really? That sounds pretty neat." How could she do that? One minute she could be intimidating, the next she was as docile as a butterfly. "So—tomorrow, you'll have the information for me?" Rin was actually a bit unnerving with her instant mood changes. Neji couldn't help but find that fascinating to watch. But with her mood changes being so very quick… how could he sway her to follow Hiyashi's political views? A person like her was probably led by gut instinct and spontaneity. She probably made her decisions on-the-spot and dealt with them accordingly, whereas Hiyashi was the type of person who planned everything in advance, and made back-up plans for the unlikely event that a back-up plan didn't work.

Neji shook himself mentally when Gai asked, "Are you alright, Neji-kun?" in a low whisper.

Neji wanted to say, "No, you great green buffoon, I'm not _alright_, but your wife doesn't like me and wants me to suffer, and its cold, I'm tired, I'm in pain, but here we are! In the middle of nowhere!" Instead, since he _couldn't_ say that (he tried, but it seemed a physical impossibility to speak his mind), he said, "I am well, Gai-sensei," in a quiet voice.

"Well," the first realtor said in a light suggestion, "shall we head back now?" Or, it was supposed to be a light suggestion. It seemed to come out as more of a nervous squeak. Neji felt even more curious about the place that would be his new home until the moment the Caged Bird Seal was removed…

Rin said, "Go ahead."

"You're not coming?" Gai asked, apparently as surprised as the realtors were that she wasn't going home for the evening.

Rin smiled so brightly it almost hurt to look at. "Nope!" She turned and spread her arms wide, a happy little giggle emitting from her throat. "I want to take a closer look at my home!"

The realtors glanced at each other slightly, almost as if they were communicating through look alone. "I thought you didn't want to go down," the first realtor said.

Rin turned to look at him and winked, "Of course I want to go down, silly. Just not with you! Now if you don't mind… you seem to be on my property! Go on—off you go."

The realtors seemed a bit startled; Neji didn't blame them. Gai asked, "Would you like me to go, Rin-chan?" The realtors hesitantly took off back the way they came.

Rin said, "You can stay if you want to, but I'll be here for a while. I think you should both go back."

Gai puffed out his chest importantly, "I could not, in good faith, leave you by yourself Rin-chan!" Rin opened her mouth to argue, but Gai insisted. "Neji-kun! You should go back and get some rest! You are not well! I will stay with Rin-chan until she is ready to go back."

Neji didn't exactly want to go back to Min so he offered, "I assure you, Gai-sensei, I am quite well." It couldn't have been a bigger lie, but he was pretty good at lying (especially to himself) and Gai was too trusting.

"You both realize I'm never alone, right?" Rin asked. Gai fell silent and Neji wondered what she meant by that. "I'd just like to look around. I'll be alright finding my way back to your place, Gai."

"Perhaps you would just allow Neji-kun to follow behind?" Gai insisted. Why was Gai pressing? She obviously didn't want company. Did Gai know something about this place? What was the realtor going to say before the other cut him off? What rumors?

"Fine." Rin grumbled. She was annoyed; at least Neji could tell that. She took off down the uneven path down into the vale.

Gai grabbed Neji's arm before he could follow. Neji looked at his sensei in confusion, finding the man to be wearing an expression Neji had only seen once after Gaara of the Sand had injured Lee in the Chunin exam, nearly leaving the boy unable to be a shinobi. What did Gai know that Neji did not?

"Keep her out of the forest there." Gai warned. While the advice Gai had given seemed quite clear to comprehend, at the same time it seemed to make no sense at all. Neji tried to tell that to Gai through his frown (he couldn't admit he was confused—that was admitting weakness) but Gai didn't realize that was what he was trying to say.

And then Gai let him go and turned away, heading down the path with his shoulders stiff. Neji watched him leave for a moment, wondering what kind of warning he had just received. He turned his eyes back on the path into the district and saw that Rin was halfway down the path already, her raven hair reflecting a strange metallic blue in the moonlight.

Neji again found his eyes on the dark expanse of forest at the far end that seemed so beautiful, so peaceful in the moonlight. Suddenly it seemed the darkness wasn't so innocent anymore; the shadows seemed to move, even if that was ridiculous. What exactly did Gai know, and why wasn't he telling it?

More importantly… _what_ was Gai not saying?

Neji followed Rin down the mountain, ignoring the fact that his body and bruises protested movement. He thought he would catch up to her by the time she reached the bottom, but when she reached the bottom she took off her shoes and was far quicker barefooted.

Neji just didn't understand her. She ran straight for the hut in the distance. His ribs especially protested against him following her, but he ignored it. By the time he got to the hut, she was already there for several minutes. She was staring at the front door in confusion. Neji approached her but remained several feet of distance between them.

"This door—it doesn't look very aged," she said. "The place is supposed to be run-down; no maintenance for over a decade." She pointed to a place in the ground just in front of the half-built porch. There was a divot in the ground as if something had torn the grass up by being dragged through it. "If that happened over ten years ago, there should be growth there."

Neji didn't know what to tell her except, "This place has a history we are unaware of. It strikes fear in the hearts of men." Gai had been disquieted by this place, and so had one of the realtors. It was a logical assumption.

Rin placed her hand on the door knob and tried to turn it. "Its locked," she said looking a little annoyed.

"You could check around the door, Uzumaki-sama. Sometimes a spare key is left nearby."

Rin immediately set about feeling around the door frame, above it and down by the incredibly _strange_ welcome mat. Neji did a double-take when he saw it. It was a plastic shoe mat with the image being a poster board for the motion picture of Make Out Paradise. The mat said, "Make Out Paradise: The Movie" above the image and "Welcomes you home" beneath it.

If Neji wasn't mistaken… that movie was only around five or so years old.

"I don't see it anywhere," she said as she looked under the mat. "Do you?"

Neji looked around the ground beneath the unfinished porch as she continued to search on top of it. He found a strange looking cement frog on one side of the staircase and picked it up to look under it, finding nothing. However, it did rattle as he set it down. Curiously he shook it and then saw that there was a small carved out hole just large enough to stick a key in between the frog's lips.

"That's such a cute frog!" Rin giggled, peering off the porch at what he was doing. He tilted the frog up and the key slid out of the mouth. It wasn't as cute as it was completely obvious, but if he hadn't heard it rattle he would never have looked at it further… therefore, he had to admit it was pretty ingenious. "The key! Good thing you came, Neji-san. I would never have thought to look in the mouth."

Neji tilted his head in acknowledgement of the praise and handed her the key, but he refused to say a word. He preferred to let people think he knew exactly what he was doing even when he had no clue… he was getting good at that too.

She walked to the door and for a moment she just stared at it, almost as if she were psyching herself up to go in. Nevertheless, she pressed the key into the lock and turned it. In the cool silence of the evening, with only the accompaniment being the crackle of the fire some distance safely in front of the hut, the wind, and the local bug inhabitants, they could hear the lock click.

Rin pulled the key out of the door and let it swing into the house's interior. She looked back at him. "Coming?"

He watched her put the key into the pocket of her strange pink apron (why was she wearing that frilly pink apron over a lime green shirt decorated in a banana print and that blue striped pleated skirt? Who even _bought_ that lime green shirt? And why on earth would she wear an orange ribbon in her ridiculous hairstyle?). He took the invitation and mounted the stairs to the small porch, entering the hut after her.

It was very dark, but they could see an oil lamp and a matchbook on a table in the center of the room. He watched as Rin tried to light a match but after a few broken attempts she sheepishly turned to him. "Sorry, Neji-san, but would you mind?"

He reached out and she gave him the matches. He took the glass cover from the lamp to reveal the wick, adjusted the wick's length, and then struck the match. Once the wick was lit, he put the cover on and adjusted the wick's length again so it would provide proper light yet not burn too fast.

With the added light, they immediately found that a letter had been left on the table. It was unmarked. Rin grasped it curiously and looked at both the front and back before she tore it open and pulled out the letter. She read it over and then frowned. "It says, 'I found the deed for you, so I moved your stuff here. You can claim your birthright with this.' Who left this? It isn't signed."

Neji had to add, "I think we should ask who it was meant for, and how old it is."

The house wasn't very large; it had three rooms apart from what seemed to be the kitchen; one was a small, completely undeveloped and half-built bathroom containing a stone water basin, a pit toilet, and a full length mirror. Another appeared to be a bedroom with an old bed that appeared uninhabitable, two dressers, and a small closet. The third seemed to be a room for storage—it was filled with random items: a toaster, a second table, two mismatched chairs, and boxes of clothes. There was another bed in there, but it wasn't set up.

The kitchen itself seemed only half-set up. The sturdy table was built but had no finish on it—same with the two chairs. A high chair sat in the corner of the room with a box of old fashioned wood toys in it. A bookshelf was in another corner of the room lined in old books. The sink was again a simple stone basin, the countertops weren't quite finished being built, and the stove was a wood-burning stove. An old cast iron kettle sat atop it.

The walls appeared to have wallpaper on them, but someone had been in the process of removing it. The window over by the sink was grimy, but it looked as though a half-hearted attempt at cleaning it had been made. The back door was identical to the front door, looking very new against the odds.

"I think this building might fix up quite nicely into a guest house; what do you think, Neji-san?" she asked him.

Surprised that she had addressed him, he was only able to formulate, "Perhaps," as his oh-so-intelligent response. Where was she going to house all the clan members? And where would she and Naruto stay—if she was indeed Naruto's sibling…

After Rin had looked around the house—going as far as poking her nose into the teakettle—she went outside, leaving the oil lamp on the center of the table. Neji followed her out.

They could smell fruit behind the house. By the light of the bright, full moon they could see strange, orange-like fruit trees all planted in a grove that extended quite a distance from the house. He thought that if the fruits weren't poisonous, they might be able to turn that fruit grove into profit for the clan. Then he shook himself mentally; he didn't have any business thinking such things. It wasn't his place to. Besides that, he was going back to the Hyuuga clan eventually anyway.

Rin's footsteps caused the grass to sigh as she moved to the right of the house, away from the grove and bypassing the well. He followed and stopped when she did. She stared down at a giant hole in the ground; dirt was overturned here into a massive pile as if something had been dug up.

Neji could tell it had only been within the last few days that it happened… Probably Sunday night or Monday morning.

"They're hiding something from me," Rin said with certainty, and she didn't sound pleased.

* * *

**P…popular…! **Dragondemonnekogirl Eva (I'm a NaruHPTard… do those exist? Apparently not many good ones… well, looks like I'm starting a new story), zoey tamagachi (and one of the chapters wasn't even fully posted! Although… I honestly am not sure what you mean), supersillee06 (you should have been angry; that way you might have gotten on a roll at yelling at me, you would've yelled about how I should've finished posting the chapter! Thanks! PS, stay tuned for further updates on the blood trait…), Dark Inu Fan (I'm hoping that chapter works out for me. Sakura and Naruto didn't take things too well, and Sasuke couldn't care less—yeesh…), DarkRavie, anonymous naruhinafan (she doesn't have a memory seal—memory modification is her blood trait… did I explain that enough in the story?), Arcander (direction? What direction? Where am I going?! Are you stalking me!?), Sesshoumaru's Hot Mate (in due time…),

**Last chapter's responses**: yumeniai (giggle… I can't tell you what's up with Gaara), Dark Inu Fan (snicker, the archangel wants him for his body—and you know you do too… wait, guess that's just a fan girl thing… I don't know what the archangel wants??), Arcander (ko-chiski is… totally cool…), supersillee06 (sorry for the spoiler, but I was hoping it would help me avoid flames from the NaruHina fans… I think I did take it out though), anonymous naruhinafan (just for you, this story is now a Naruto/Orochimaru story… promise!), A Reader (Now that I'm no longer pissed about your review, I've finally realized something… _Homophobes are really funny_.), Otomanashi, and everyone else who reviewed at some point in time.

Answer: Yeah… This should have been part of the last chapter, but when I bought my computer I wasn't told I needed to be smarter than it.

_Pokinoï pokinoi dji noch predo Ostinyi du brach tivo_


	62. Keeping the Night

Title: Koumajutsu  
Author: Tsubasa Kya  
Disclaimer: I claim nothing.

Megathanks to Arcander--you kicked me over the stump. My bum hurts a bit, but I'm better for it?

* * *

Chapter 62: Keeping the Night

It had grown dark out and the world was lit up only by the moon and stars by the time Naruto had managed to pull himself through the front door of his Suna home. The house was so silent that it was either abandoned or else everyone was asleep. As he always did, he took his shoes off by the front door.

He didn't want to disturb anyone who was sleeping, but he still had the urge that he needed to do a head count of his kids. Five of them were accounted for simply because of the Chunin exam but he still had twelve others that he had to know the whereabouts of.

He stepped over to the living room doors and slid one open as quiet as he could. A simple glance revealed it to be empty. No one was up late watching the television. He climbed up the creaky old staircase and turned left into the bunk room. Eleven beds were occupied; Vvim was sleeping in Terrence's cot.

With his kids all accounted for, he walked over to Vvim's bunk and changed into his pajamas. The minute his head hit the pillow, he was asleep. He didn't even twitch when Vvim woke up and saw he was home. She crossed the room to climb into bed with her Nana and curled against his side.

In spite of his late night, Naruto was awake early the next morning. None of the kids were up and he found Vvim was quite content to use him as a pillow. Her little fingers grasped his pajama top firmly as though subconsciously afraid to let him slip away.

He had another nightmare and it left him cold and shaky that morning. He hadn't had one in months, but that one caught him by surprise. He thought he was done having nightmares but he was wrong.

He couldn't remember much of it; bits and pieces were all he could recall. There was a large crowd of people all stuck together in a small enclosure. And there were chains—that felt like an important piece of the dream but he wasn't sure why. He didn't know what was frightening about the dream; only that it was and it left him feeling like he had less sleep than when he went to bed.

Knowing he had to get up eventually, Naruto tried to shake away the dream and when it didn't work he peeled himself away from Vvim and tiptoed out of the room. He walked down the creaky stairs and made his way into the kitchen, pumping up a glass of water to calm his shaky nerves.

The light to the kitchen flicked on and he turned, startled, to see who was there. Sasuke was leaning casually against the doorframe watching him with unguarded eyes. It was surprising that Sasuke would let down his cool, uncaring façade even for a moment, but at the same time it was a welcome sight.

Sasuke was worried and apprehensive. Naruto was probably the only person in the whole world who Sasuke would let so close, Naruto thought. Despite the fact that Sasuke was there and quite open about his emotions (which just never happened on any given day) the moment was tense and awkward.

Finally Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from Naruto. He didn't ask a single question, but Naruto knew what he wanted. "I'm okay now," Naruto said and turned back to face the wall.

"You don't look okay." Sasuke pointed out.

Naruto shook his head. "No, I am…" he pumped up some more water. "I just—had a bad dream…" he finished rather lamely. He knew it was a lame sounding excuse, but it had left him frazzled.

Sasuke didn't press him any more and left Naruto alone. Naruto could hear Sasuke talking very briefly in the living room before the house was once more silent. Naruto took his cup and made his way toward the living room. He was rather surprised to find Sasuke wasn't alone, although he wasn't sure why that would be surprising as he had heard Sasuke talk.

His entrance into the room didn't go unnoticed; two sets of eyes plus one turned to look at him in the dim light provided by the single television that was on. Sasuke was quite comfortable on Vvim's massive couch-chair and Sakura had herself a nice little nest on Moon-drop's brown couch. Kakashi was seated on one end of Moon-drop's couch and was surprisingly enough using Kakashi's thigh as a pillow as if he were her father or something.

"Praise the heavens," Kakashi joked, "Naruto is awake before sunrise."

Sakura bit her lip as if she wanted to giggle but felt it would be inappropriate. "That isn't funny, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura huffed and hit the older man's leg.

"I thought it was," Sasuke admitted, although his voice suggested a severe lack of amusement. "Come sit down, Naruto." He ordered.

Naruto's first instinct was to protest, to tell Sasuke he didn't have any control over what Naruto did. Needless to say, he ignored that first instinct and crossed the room. He made himself comfortable on the floor in front of Moon-drop's couch and let his eyes wander onto the screen of the television.

He was surprised at how the awkward tension faded with each passing moment. No one brought up what happened between the three of them. It was almost as if in the early morning hours, nothing had happened. They didn't get drunk, they didn't have a kinky threesome, and they wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath later on.

Of course, it did happen and sooner or later they would have to talk about what they were going to do about it. Naruto personally couldn't just let it go. He had to eventually talk to both his teammates and find out what remained between them—if anything. But for that moment, their problems ceased to exist and Team 7 was together again watching a boring, muted documentary on fish.

He felt Sakura's hand find his and she squeezed it as though to comfort him. For one more night at least things would be sane. And tomorrow? Let tomorrow be the crazy day, he thought.

_You amuse me, kit,_ Kyuubi hummed in his mind. _The longer you put things off, the more you will end up having to deal with at once…_

Naruto ignored the fox demon and twined his fingers with Sakura's, hoping to keep the night forever.

* * *

Thanks to all you guys for reviewing. Yumeniai (yeah, Kagome is a slacker and shows up at random), Niklos, ihaveprobs, anonymous NaruHinafan, AZNpuffyhair (yamawho?), Dark Inu Fan, Zoey Tamagachi, Arcander, Dark Ravie, oni-ryu Neko ninja.

Answer: This was an irresistable stopping point.

_Wishes do come true when you wish with all your might..._


	63. The Ýæn Pendant

Title: Koumajutsu  
Author: TK  
Disclaimer: I disclaim.

Chapter 63: The ­­­­­Ýæn Pendant

"Uzumaki-sama?"

Naruto looked up from his doodling and directed a foxy grin at the serving woman. She blushed cutely and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes," he glanced at her name tag, "Joni?" He spoke in Suni, knowing it pleased her to hear it. He really liked the language. The only problem was that it—like a lot of others—was dying out. People learned it only out of formality now, as the main language of the country was now Common.

"Can I get you anything else?" She held her serving tray to her bosom with a smile on her face.

Naruto glanced discretely across the table at Sasuke, who wasn't paying attention to his companion. Sasuke was staring out the window of the café, his chin on his hand and an expressionless look on his face that showed exactly how excited he was to be stuck waiting in the café. Since Sasuke was no real company, Naruto decided to flirt with the girl.

"Well, now that you ask… Could you get me a date to the watering hole?" He winked at the girl, and then added, "I like small women with short black hair and violet eyes." It was literally a coincidence that his description described Hinata. Joni was also small in stature and had short black hair, although her eyes weren't like Hinata's. Joni's eyes were a bit darker in color, and while Joni's eyes were very pretty, Naruto couldn't help but think that Hinata's were prettier.

He threw that thought away immediately. If he was going to flirt, he couldn't be thinking about anyone but the person he was flirting with! Of course, it didn't make a difference to Naruto what the woman looked like. His preferences for women varied widely. It really depended on the woman, not the woman's looks.

Joni giggled. "Uzumaki-sama, are you _flirting_ with me?" she asked him.

"If a man could flirt with an angel, then yes. Slap me in chains and call me guilty," Naruto got another giggle out of her for that one.

"I think I'm a bit old for you, Uzumaki-sama," she told him. "I'm thirty years old."

"And yet you don't look a day older than fifteen! A woman as beautiful as you are has no need of a fountain of youth. Do you like roses?"

"You're incorrigible."

"And you're gorgeous. But I'm hardly one to complain."

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, his expression bland as his hand darted out and threaded in Naruto's hair. The next second, Naruto's forehead hurt quite a bit after being slammed on the table. Naruto swore somewhat violently and glared at Sasuke.

"Quite flirting; it's getting annoying." Sasuke told him.

Joni giggled at Naruto, "I think your boyfriend is jealous, Uzumaki-sama," she said.

"He's not my boyfriend," Naruto grumbled. "I don't even _know_ this guy. He just sort of sat at my table and expects me to pay for his food."

"And yet you've been doing it for three days now," Joni pointed out. She set their check on the table and said, "Let me know if I can get you anything else."

As she left them, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Do you _have_ to flirt with everything that moves?"

"Geez, I'm just being friendly. What's the big deal?" Naruto asked, rubbing his forehead. He could have sworn his life flashed before his eyes at that blow.

"You were flirting with the _waiter_ this morning. And you keep saying you're not gay."

"He was cute! What was I supposed to do?" Naruto said before realizing that was _not_ the right answer to defend himself with. So, to defend himself further (and dig a deeper grave, most likely) he accused the now-amused-looking Sasuke, "Are you _jealous_ I've been flirting with everyone except you?"

As Naruto had predicted, Sasuke got irritated at the accusation. "Hardly. You aren't worth a second run in the sack."

Naruto ground his teeth together. "What are you saying? I'm not good enough for you?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Sasuke said, calmly stirring his tea (which was as black as his heart, Naruto swore).

"You're lying. I'm more than you can handle!" Naruto growled.

"Oh yes," Sasuke drawled sarcastically. "I can't handle you, poor me. Then explain why I," Sasuke was stopped mid-statement as a hand darted out and covered his mouth.

Both boys looked to find a pale, disgusted looking Itachi covering Sasuke's mouth. Even though Naruto found out a week ago already that Itachi and Sasuke weren't going to start killing each other, it was still a bit weird to see them together and not killing each other. Still, not to be won over, Naruto had to point out, "I was top. I don't _care_ what you did, you were still the girl."

Itachi turned a bit green. Itachi quickly got to the purpose of his visit, releasing Sasuke from his grip. "Kakashi contacted me and told me to find something for you to do."

Naruto snorted as Sasuke looked extremely unimpressed by his older brother's sudden queasiness toward homosexuality. It figured Itachi's weakness would be something so completely lame. "I'm not doing _anything_ you say to do," Naruto told Itachi before sticking his tongue out. "I'm staying right here till Sakura gets back with the news." He wasn't comfortable around Itachi, but since the older Uchiha wasn't about to mass-murder him (it _was_ possible, with Naruto being able to use the Shadow Clone) he figured a bit of disobedience wasn't going to kill anyone…

Completely ignoring Itachi, Sasuke asked Naruto, "So you think she might really be pregnant?"

"One hundred percent!" Naruto couldn't help but grin. "And obviously, it'll be my kid, because I'm better than you are."

"Who says?" Sasuke demanded.

"Well, duh! If I can _get_ pregnant, then obviously I can get someone else pregnant! So it's my kid, and you suck." Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke, whose hand darted out and gripped his tongue like lightning. "Limmeaidumg!" Naruto complained.

"Don't stick it out unless you're going to use it." Sasuke told him lightly before releasing Naruto's tongue and wiping his hand on his older brother's red cloud cape. Itachi's eye twitched at all the disobedience being directed at him. He didn't get nearly that much when Sasuke was trying to kill him…

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "Oh, I'll use it. Just not on you!"

Itachi grabbed both boys by the upper arm and dragged them out of their seats. "Come with me," he said. Naruto struggled but it was fruitless as Itachi had some sort of technique he was using that was draining Naruto's chakra and strength even faster than a chakra or strength juicer would.

"I didn't pay my check!" Naruto said, but it didn't cause Itachi to let him go. Instead, the older man paused in his step. "Let me go, I can't pay my check if you're hanging all over me!"

"I have faith that you'll manage," Itachi said carelessly.

"You can't do a whole lot even without someone hanging on you," Sasuke quipped.

Naruto gave up his struggle with Itachi and tried to launch himself at Sasuke. "You ass! I'll kill you!" Naruto was, unfortunately, held back by Itachi who had a great deal of strength on his side. And Sasuke was just smirking at Naruto!

"Pay your bill and be done, Uzumaki!" Itachi hissed, his patience wearing quite thin. And Saturday was barely beginning…

xXx

Kagome found herself increasingly bored, lying around Gaara's house. For once she didn't have to listen to the foreign ambassadors complaints about how she was evil and should be 'eliminated at all costs'. Of course, they didn't mean to let her hear them, but she _was_ the Dog Princess, the first Summoner ever to summon _the_ Prince Sesshoumaru and his younger brother Prince Inuyasha.

Sometimes it did pay to have heightened hearing, a result of being attached to the two princes. Other times it was a boon. For the ambassador's sake, she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to take the confinement of Gaara's house, listening to them chatter at night amongst each other. So far, she knew of no less than six plots to 'kill her before she could turn'.

She wasn't entirely concerned with the assassination plots, though she still told Itachi about them. He had assured her the ambassadors knew they could not act against her at least until they were clear of Suna at the end of February and could blame another country, but she still heard him later on as he went to the ambassadors and dangled a death threat above each of their heads.

Even Itachi didn't know her hearing was good enough to have heard that.

Still, with the ambassadors off somewhere in the city meeting for lunch with Gaara, and Itachi and Kabuto both off enjoying a lovely stroll around the desert outside the city (they were searching for the missing head of the coyote, but she figured they would not find it), Kagome was again confined to Gaara's house with nothing more than servants to keep her company. The servants weren't _good_ company; they never looked straight at her, refused to speak to her except to say 'yes, mistress' or 'no, mistress', and were far too skittish for her to stand.

Even Sango had ditched her, though it was only because Kagome forced her to earlier that morning. Sango wouldn't stop sighing and giggling to herself as she looked at a tiny little ring on her finger. Love was in the air around Sango, but it made her a terrible companion.

Kagome pushed herself off her bed and crossed the room to the balcony door, opening it and stepping out into the desert sun. It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Suna. A bit warm, but then again it _was_ the desert. She could see and hear the busy merchants as they brought in sales from the Sun Festival.

It wasn't fair that she was stuck indoors… Kagome threw her lip out in a pout. Itachi didn't _have_ to send Kisame, Sasori and Deidara away! Any one of them could have stayed with her. But _no_. Itachi sent them off to look for the ever-elusive Kikyou. As if they'd find the girl… Kikyou would show herself only when she was ready for it, and never a moment sooner. They could find traces of her only when Kikyou allowed it, and even then, the traces were always old.

Kagome leaned on the rail, the red silk dress Temari had bought her swaying in the breeze. She liked the dress, although Kikyou would disapprove greatly. It had spaghetti thin straps and whenever she got the sudden urge to dance (which was quite ordinary) there were slits up both thighs to an almost indecent point. The revealing nature of the dress didn't bother her at all. She'd run around naked after her baths at the Yobidasu Shrine… Granted, she'd been two when she did that, but still.

She could recall the things her father would dress her in as she grew up. It brought a smile to her face, remembering. Kikyou was always in the traditional Summoner's uniform: the red hakama and the white haori. The older twin hated the idea of any other apparel. But not Kagome… No, she had _always_ loved it when her father gave her some new article of clothing to wear. Her favorites were the dancer's costumes from the Guro tribesmen.

And her absolute favorite outfit out of all of them had been…

Kagome's smile fell. It had burned. It had burned along with the rest of them when Kikyou burned down the shrine. The walk down memory lane had ended again, like always, in tragedy. Kagome wanted to keep believing her sister could be _saved_. She wanted to believe that her sister wasn't forever gone into the Yobidasu Madness…

_"Even if you could reverse the madness,"_ Kagome remembered her father once saying, _"after returning to sanity and knowing what you did… would you want to live? No… it is more merciful to the Summoner and to those who lived."_

Kagome pursed her lips. "Enough moping," she told herself, clapping her hands together. The Koumaberu bracelets on her wrists tinkled from the action and she made the executive (but probably stupid and soon-to-be-regretted) decision to leave the house. She'd just go and enjoy a bit of the Sun Festival and be back right after it. After all, the day was warm and bright and sunny! It wasn't as if a slaver would kidnap her from the middle of the street in the middle of the day…

She could stick to the big crowds!

Kagome marched into the room and walked over to the desk and checked her green satchel to be one-hundred-percent certain her Links were in there. They were (although why they wouldn't be, she didn't know; no one touched her bag but her) so she pulled the strap over her neck and shoulder, letting it dangle on her left side. She might not be able to do much Summoning as long as the Snake-Man had the Shikon no Tama, but at the same time since getting it back a week earlier she hadn't even left her _room_ without it, and as far as all her Koumaberu went, she hadn't taken them off since then. She'd even taken to bathing with them on (Kabuto told her she was going overboard, but she didn't care).

Next was Kagome's shoes. Itachi had taken to cleaning Kagome's room every day because he was obsessively compulsive about clean rooms, so it didn't take long to locate both of them. She absolutely _loved_ the shoes Temari had found for her; they were plain leg-lace sandals made of reed and tanned deer hide, a strap of the hide to cross her toes and then laces made out of the tanned deer hide as well. She liked them because they were especially flexible, and yet they kept her feet from burning on the sand. It was almost as though she weren't wearing shoes, which she usually chose not to if she could get away with it.

Kagome ran her brush through her hair and was going to braid it down her back before catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror just a few steps away. She blinked at her twin in the mirror, or at least what would have passed for her twin if the eyes weren't the wrong color. Kikyou's were brown; Kikyou and Souta had their mother's eyes. Kagome had their father's midnight blue eyes, a color so deep, so strange sometimes Kagome could recall getting lost in her father's eyes.

In appearance, their eyes were always the only difference between Kagome and Kikyou as they grew up. When they got older, Kikyou proved to be the more dignified, graceful twin… but she also proved to care about very little, and her cold, unconcerned personality showed through in everything she did.

Kagome smiled at the reflection and immediately any similarities to her twin had vanished.

Deciding to leave her hair down (hadn't Gaara said she looked beautiful with it down in an unbelievably uncharacteristic moment anyway?) as she was wasting daylight hours, Kagome made her musical way to her balcony. She figured if she didn't let the servants know she was leaving, her absence would never be noticed. She could slip away and then slip back and no one would be the wiser for it.

So that was what she did; she climbed over the balcony rail and dropped to the ground below, years as a dancer and a gymnast allowing her to land without breaking something. Free of the confines of the building, she nearly let out a squeal of happiness but forced herself to contain it and took off across the sandy 'front yard' toward the street, mingling her way through to join in the throng of people enjoying the Saturday Sun Festival.

Once she was a good two block distance from Gaara's house, Kagome began looking for fun things to do. Gaara did show her around the Sun Festival recently, but Kagome had to admit she was unable to really enjoy herself. She figured it was because Gaara was hosting Shukaku, although that was as unfair as it was a sad reality, but because of that the enjoyment of the Sun Festival seemed to decrease.

Even the scarce few minutes she spent walking around she already noticed a dramatic difference than when she walked around with Gaara. These people who didn't know her to be associated with Gaara actually looked at her. The merchants called out to her to look at their wares, and the people around her were all full of smiles.

If she had worn the Summoner uniform, she would have only hostility, but thankfully the uniform was countries away. It was the worst outfit in the world to Kagome. She hated it and only wore it when Sango made her. A small part of her asked if she hated the uniform because she didn't want to be any more similar to Kikyou, but she pushed that part aside. She didn't need such negative thoughts at the moment.

The day was one to be enjoyed! She didn't get many days where the opportunity to escape confinement arose.

"A pretty necklace for a pretty lady," one vendor called out to her, thrusting a necklace toward her.

Kagome blinked at the squirrelly little man who seemed to suddenly appear at her side before backing away to a more comfortable distance. "Oh, um, no thank you… I don't have any money…"

The man smiled a crooked smile, his eyes roaming her figure to land on her satchel which obviously had things inside it. "Money isn't the only currency I accept," he told her vaguely.

Kagome couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the man. "All I have in here worth bartering is a book. The rest has no monetary value." Despite herself, she glanced at the necklace he seemed so interested in getting rid of. It was quite ordinary looking for the most part, the chain made of hemp with tiny green beads braided into the pattern. The pendant was a simple four-leaf-clover preserved in amber. In its simplicity, the necklace was special and for some reason Kagome felt she should know the significance of it but wherever she knew it from currently alluded her.

"What is this?" she asked the man.

"This pendant belonged to the greatest men of all, Sowash the Pirate!"

Kagome frowned. That name… she should know that name… "Sowash the Pirate?" she asked and the squirrelly man's crooked smile grew wider at her curiosity. "Who was he?"

The man glanced around them as if to be sure no one was listening in before motioning for her to lean close to hear. She did despite her confusion. "Sowash was a great Summoner, of course. You _do_ know what a Summoner was, don't you?" Kagome almost laughed at his question but held back. Instead she shook her head and feigned ignorance. "Why, Summoners were the greatest of the Purists. They had the power to bring creatures here from another world, and Sowash was one of the very best of them!"

Kagome looked at the charm and said slowly, "So this Sowash guy was special, yes?"

The man nodded eagerly. "He lived three hundred years ago and sailed the seas with his All-Purist crew."

Finally it hit Kagome where she knew the name Sowash from. Every Summoner earned a title in their lifetime. Sowash the Pirate Slaver was one of the King's Fool's Summoners. He spent his days capturing Grasslanders and selling them into slavery on the other side of the world where there was said to be a disappearing continent.

The way the story went was that Sowash had captured a young Zodiac Grasslander who he had killed and then put the boy's head in a bird cage to hang off the bow. After that, Sowash sold the slaves he'd caught and disappeared into the sea with his All-Purist crew, never to be heard of again. It was simply assumed that Sowash had died, because Kyuubi the King's Fool had a new Summoner fifty years after Sowash disappeared.

"Why do you want to sell this to me anyway?" Kagome asked. "I mean, you could've picked anyone on the street to convince, but you approached me. Left your stand and everything." She pointed to his stand which was clear across the street.

"You're a Grasslander, aren't you?" the man inquired.

Confused and taken aback by the bluntness of the question, Kagome responded hesitantly, "…Yes…"

"Well, _this_ pendant was given to Sowash by a Grasslander… Isn't it right that it goes back to its roots?"

"In that case," Kagome said, "you should really find the descendants of the one who gave it to Sowash." Kagome shook her head, disbelieving the squirrelly man. She still wasn't entirely sure where she remembered the pendant from, but she was pretty sure it was a gift of ­­­­­Ýæn, given to those Zodiac tribesmen favored by their God. But it had been three hundred years—according to Kagome's father—since ­­­­­Ýæn had blessed any of his children.

Remembering that, Kagome pieced things together fairly quickly. The Zodiac Grasslander who was killed was probably the owner of that pendant. It was quite possible that since then, ­­­­­Ýæn was distraught over the loss of one of his favored that he chose to punish the rest of his people for not protecting the boy. After all, even the tribesmen punished whole families if a male died. Entire families were sold into slavery because the most precious, the male, was not kept safe. That was why males couldn't be fighters, as it would increase their chance of dying.

The man insistently pushed the pendant into Kagome's hands. "I am a Purist; how can I be expected to get close to a Grasslander without death?"

"You got close to me, didn't you?" Kagome asked, but the man had already retreated to his merchant stand. Kagome crossed the distance to him and tried to give it back, but the man recoiled away as if expecting the necklace to bite him. "Take it back, I can't keep it!" she told him. "This isn't mine and I don't want it."

The man stuffed some of his things into a sack and laughed bitterly. "It is your curse now." He told her, racing off into the crowd leaving most of his things right there in the street. Kagome ground her teeth together before looking at the innocent little pendant.

Now she was absolutely certain the pendant belonged to the boy Sowash killed. Her father used to tell her, "A Zodiac's luck is non-transferable. To any other, it is bad luck, like black cats and broken mirrors." The stolen pendant was a curse.

Kagome shook her head. She wasn't stupid. She couldn't keep the pendant. It wasn't hers. She lay the pendant on the man's stand and walked away from the stand.

After that, her time at the Sun Festival was relieved of weirdness. She found her way to the center of the city where a stage was set up and people gathered around to watch a play being put on. She watched the play and after it was over she walked around more and found a dancing troupe, dancing and playing music for money. She couldn't help but ask if she could join their dancing when they stopped for a break.

She was looked at as though she were crazy—they were sure she'd never keep up—but they let her as though to humor her. She set her bag between the flutist and the string-player. As she danced her Koumaberu added a musical lilt to her movements and she began to really enjoy herself as a crowd drew around them.

The violin case set up for money collection began to fill up quickly. Soon the Sun Festival was over, and Kagome found herself pouting as the dancing troupe packed themselves up. She had really enjoyed her time with them. As the musicians packed up, the beautiful dancer stepped up to Kagome, a spare dry cloth in her hand.

"Here," she said, smiling warmly at Kagome.

"Thank you," Kagome said, taking the towel and wiping off the sweat from her face. "You're a wonderful dancer," Kagome complimented the girl.

Black eyes beamed at Kagome, grateful for the compliment. She glanced at the musicians and shook her head slightly. "By the way my owners act, you'd think I was terrible. But you, good gracious, where did you learn to move like that?"

Kagome blushed. "Oh, my papa taught me from a young age."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a Gypsy barbarian," the girl joked.

"I am, but that doesn't really make a difference," Kagome pointed out and the girl's jaw dropped. "What? There are lots of tribes people who can't dance. And its _really_ misleading to call them Gypsy barbarians, because they're not _Gypsies_ they're the Guro tribe. And they're not barbaric; they're quite normal people."

"Oh…" the girl flushed. "I'm sorry for being so rude…"

"It's alright," Kagome said instantly, smiling widely. "What's your name? Mine is Kagome."

"Aoife. My owners"—Kagome failed to notice the odd wording—"and I travel the world and put on our little dancing show for money. I started about a year ago… I've had to learn how to dance in a hurry I guess you can say."

Kagome noticed the abrupt stop and turn in the subject. "Did you dance at all before then?" Aoife shook her head. "You're pretty talented! What did you do before then?"

"I was a shop girl in Melora, up in Rock country…" she trailed off as the fiddler approached them and turned her eyes to the ground. Kagome was confused by her behavior until she noticed for the first time the thick metal band around Aoife's neck. She hadn't thought about it because it was covered by a wide black cloth so she assumed it was just a black choker.

But she understood quickly that Aoife was a slave now, and that was the point where she recalled the wording 'owner'.

The fiddler smiled at Aoife and said, "Go back to the wagons and get some water, girl. The day isn't done yet." Aoife followed the man's instructions and the man (whose very voice set Kagome's teeth on edge) turned to Kagome. He held up a small money pouch and said, "Since you helped us so much, here's your share of the profits. And thanks for helping us, too." He handed her the money pouch and she took it, thanking him quietly.

She went to her bag and her first thought was to immediately check and make sure everything was in there; all of it was, including the Level One Summons book. She would have trusted them unconditionally (she usually trusted people blindly) but Aoife was a slave and Kagome distrusted slave owners. Unfortunately there was one thing in her bag that didn't belong there…

The ­­­­­Ýæn pendant.

Kagome groaned. She could have sworn she gave it back to the man, put it on his table of things… She shoved the sack of money in her satchel and shouldered the bag, feeling frustrated that the pendant had somehow made it into her things.

The next thing Kagome knew happened was that something had hit her on the back of the head, rather hard, and then the sandy ground became up-close and personal. The bad luck from having the stolen pendant was beginning.

Kagome woke up in ropes, tied up in the back of a jostling wagon. She groaned at the painful feeling of the lump on the back of her head. When her vision focused, she was able to ascertain that she was in a wooden wagon with a cover over it. The wagon was filled with medium sized crates, stacked one on top of the other and held down by a hemp net tied to the sides of the wagon.

Kagome herself was tied to the wall of the wagon and she could see that her jewelry had been taken off, all of it. Her special Koumaberu for calling Sesshoumaru was replaced with a cold metal collar like that which was worn by Aoife across the wagon. Kagome didn't have a clue where her bag was, but she did wonder why they bothered to go through the pretense of paying her money if they just planned to enslave her.

At least she was allowed to keep her clothing… Kagome had heard from Temari that some slavers took _everything_ from their victims. All Kagome would need to do now to escape was find her Koumaberu and links and then high-tail it out of there.

So obviously disregarding Itachi's orders to stay put in Gaara's house was really stupid, but she was never really one for sitting around. She got bored really easily.

"Kagome, are you alright?" Aoife asked her in concern.

Kagome glanced up at her hands, tugging on them. "Peachy, except now I'm being carted off and Itachi's going to kill me." She told the other girl.

"I'm really sorry." Aoife said sincerely, not looking at Kagome out of shame. "I tried to warn you what kind of people these were… I thought you'd see the slave collar on me and leave, like you should have."

"I totally missed the point, I guess," Kagome said. When the ropes wouldn't give out, she stopped trying and sighed. "So where are we going anyway? And what about my bag of stuff? They didn't leave it did they?"

"Oh, no they brought it." Aoife tilted her head at the front of the cart. "They put your Gypsy bells in your bag and put it in the lead wagon. Where did you get those anyway? They don't seem man-made."

"They're called Koumaberu," Kagome explained, seeing no reason not to tell the slave.

"Kouma…beru…? Summoning bells?"

Kagome nodded. "I use them to summon Level One Summon Creatures."

"You're a Summoner?"

"You've heard of us, then?"

"Goodness gracious, yes!" Aoife nodded. "Used to have one in Melora up until about three years ago; she left and we never heard from her again. Every year she'd leave for about two, maybe three weeks. Maybe you knew her?"

"What was her name?" Kagome asked.

"Kaede. I can't say I knew much about her, but she only had one eye, so the townspeople called her One-Eye Kaede."

Kagome smiled a small, sad smile. "I did know her. She was known as Kaede the Merciful, because old Kaede had summoned Aria, the Merciful Angel. Aria is a very picky Summon Creature who won't attach to a human unless they're pure of heart. Hundreds have been able to Summon her, but Kaede was the first she ever attached to."

"Do you know what happened to her?"

"She died… in a fire." Kagome said vaguely. Aoife nodded her acceptance of that. Those things happened, and Aoife probably wasn't that close to Kaede to get very emotional about it. "So where are we going then?"

"We're on the way through West Sands. My guess is we'll hit rain about the time we reach Monty's Rock Gorge. Nothing we can do about it except hope the flooding doesn't run us off the cliff." Aoife explained. "After that, I'm not sure where we're going."

"Isn't it supposed to be too dangerous to be in the West Sands when it rains?" Kagome asked.

"Incredibly dangerous," Aoife said. "When it rains, West Sands fills right up. That's why there's so few way houses you can stay at, because they have to be built special. The whole building lifts up and floats on the water, anchored in place as though it were a ship."

"Well, if its so dangerous why are we going to attempt it?" Kagome asked.

"Because they took you. They're worried you might have been the daughter of a Suni noble, so they're running. Still, they don't want to leave you, because you brought in more money than they usually make in a week in Suna. I think they want to try you in one of the high earning cities."

Kagome looked at the other girl—really looked this time. Aoife was in the same boat as she was, taken from where she was supposed to be and put in slave chains. The other girl's black hair was messy and unkempt. Her flesh was dirty, so it was probably a while since she last had the opportunity to bathe. Her garments were loose and see-through, a skirt designed like the petals of a flower and her breasts bound in a tube-shaped strapless top of black gauze. Apart from the slave collar, she didn't have anything else on her. She was a gorgeous girl, black eyes wide and mysterious.

Kagome continued to tug on her hands at that point, trying to wear at the rope. "Well, I can't go. I have to get my things and get back to Suna."

Aoife sighed. "If things were that easy, Kagome, don't you think I'd have left long ago? Even in all my infinite knowledge, I'm still not strong enough to escape. And even though you can Summon, how will that help us if your Koumaberu are in the lead wagon?"

At the sudden sound of an explosion practically on top of them, Kagome and Aoife both screamed, and the wagon they were in was suddenly rolling. _That stupid, stupid ­­­­­Ýæn pendant!_ Kagome thought venomously, but none-the-less she was grateful that whatever freakish explosion had overturned their wagon caused the rope to snap, although Aoife wasn't looking as grateful because Kagome had landed on her.

They could hear shouting outside the wagon and, in a momentary stroke of intelligence, Kagome's self-preservation kicked in. She helped Aoife get the ropes undone on her hands and the two quickly undid the ropes on their feet. Aoife was going to leave the wagon, but Kagome covered her mouth and shook her head, motioning to the upturned crates that had glass items in them but were all broken by the sound of the shattering they'd heard on the crash.

"We should run!" Aoife insisted.

"We should hide first," Kagome whispered. No matter what, they were still hidden by the wagon's cover, and from the shouting outside Kagome could determine that whoever was out there was a _real_ slaver. "Aoife, we're going to get out of this—me and you, I promise. But please, hide with me first."

Aoife didn't look so certain, but finally she agreed to hide and they crawled in amongst the boxes, burying themselves as quietly as they could (not that they really needed to be all that quiet what with the screaming going on outside).

Their wagon was checked for people, or more like just peeked into, but then someone said, "No one here! I think we got them all."

Aoife shifted and said quietly, "Kagome, that one who just looked in here… I think he had your bag."

"Then maybe we should make our getaway," Kagome whispered back. "Its just that I don't know where we'll run to."

Aoife said, "If we're about where I think we are, I might have a place we can hide; they won't be able to get us if we can make it there. Can you…" she twiddled her fingers suggestively and Kagome shook her head.

"I… can't Summon well," she lied. She could summon very well, thank you very much, so long as she could keep her cool. However, she risked potential death every time she summoned at the moment, so the idea was less prospective. Aoife raised an eyebrow at Kagome as though she knew Kagome was lying, but Kagome said, "I can't summon anything to help us. My sister was always the perfect one," she wasn't sure what urged her to add that, but she did.

Aoife said, "Alright then, we'll just have to wing it and hope we can run fast enough." She and Kagome slid out of the pile as quiet as they could, peering out of the flap of the canopy. There, not three feet away from them, was the man with Kagome's bag resting lightly in his hands as he dug through it.

Kagome whispered, "Which way are we running?"

Aoife tilted her head straight ahead of them in the desert. "Just keep going straight until I stop you."

Kagome nodded. "Then, on three… One…"

"Two…" Aoife whispered.

"Three!" both of them said before darting out. Kagome shoved the man from behind and, surprised, he let go of the bag. She took it from him and kept running, hoping blindly that her things would all be in there. She wouldn't exactly have a second chance at getting them back. She slung the strap over her shoulder and kept running after Aoife who was quite fast despite being barefoot on hot sand.

"After them!" they could hear shouted and the chase was on. Kagome wasn't sure where Aoife thought they could hide. Ahead of them was nothing but endless sand dunes followed by more sand dunes. There was nothing out there. But she placed her faith in Aoife blindly, and it paid off after Kagome wanted nothing more than to die of exhaustion… She could only be grateful that she was in shape for the most part, and the slavers chasing them were fat and lazy.

xXx

Naruto scowled at Itachi's back. _Can you explain why the hell I'm in the middle of the desert? Don't I have some sort of ambassador shit to do?_ Naruto complained in his head and was surprised as Kyuubi responded for the first time to Naruto's thoughts alone.

_You're here, oh I don't know, because you fucked your teammate and potentially got her pregnant, and now you need a baby sitter to make sure you don't go doing that to anyone else, you horny kit?_ Kyuubi replied lazily, although he sounded amused. _I always knew pinky was a cute one. How did your friend Lee take it again?_

Naruto scowled, trying to direct his scowl internally at the fox but if it worked he didn't take the bait. Lee had taken the news worse than anyone out of the group. Inevitably, everyone had to find out. Sakura told Ino almost right away, and of course after Ino knew somehow everyone else magically ended up knowing.

Ino had congratulated Sakura on 'getting her teammates in the sack'. Fuyumi had told Sakura to take advantage of the situation and start a three-some relationship with Naruto and Sasuke, to reap the benefits of Sasuke's money and Naruto's sex-god looks and playful personality. For some reason, Ten-Ten was angry and wouldn't speak to Sakura anymore (she still hadn't, to Naruto's knowledge). Hinata had grown unusually quiet even for her quiet nature and left the room. Terrence had scolded Naruto lightly for his actions and then gave Sasuke a black eye. The other kids were either happy because Naruto and Sakura were 'together' even if it was for only one night or else they were too young to understand what was going on so said nothing. Vvim had asked Sakura if she could make sure Vvim was a big sister (to which Sakura nearly fainted).

Lee, however, had not had a positive reaction. Naruto was still sore from the beating Lee gave him. Especially after learning that Lee was actually Arzyle-sama, and could do things that he'd been keeping secret for seventeen years. He should not have followed Lee to that secluded location; it would have been better to get beat up in public…

Still, Lee forgave him and his reason for forgiving Naruto was especially surprising. Basically, it made Lee happy that because it happened, Terrence and Sakura had split up (although technically they were never together because Terrence was one hundred percent gay and was only dating Sakura to 'put her in Lee's path' as Terrence said). And Terrence's plan had been working too… Sakura was genuinely interested in the things Lee had to say now, thanks to Terrence ditching her on one solitary occasion.

It was unfair that Lee only beat up Naruto, but at the same time, Sasuke had his own problems to worry about after Itachi found out. Sasuke was sporting more injuries than someone who'd just been blown to tiny bits; the only difference was that Sasuke was still alive.

_You shouldn't find this so funny,_ Naruto thought at the fox, hoping the parasite would hear it and he wouldn't have to sound crazy as he muttered to himself like a nutcase.

_Why not? You do,_ Kyuubi pointed out. _Besides, pinky is a perfect carrier for your children. Wide hips; she'll be good for birthing. She doesn't really need big tits; they'll fill up decent enough when she's milking._

"You make her sound like a cow," Naruto grumbled.

"Keep up the pace, Uzumaki," Itachi called back to him, and with yet another grumble, Naruto moved faster. They had been walking for two hours out of the city walls toward North Sands. They approached a small oasis where a surprising figure awaited them.

_The traitor!_ Naruto thought, growling as he looked at Kabuto.

_Don't attack, kit,_ Kyuubi warned him.

Naruto huffed internally. "I wasn't going to," he muttered.

_Sure you weren't,_ Kyuubi mumbled.

"Going to what?" Sasuke asked Naruto, proving that Kyuubi hadn't let Sasuke in on that little internal conversation, despite that lately the fox had been letting both boys hear everything he said to Naruto.

"Nothing," Naruto said, his visible blue eye locked on Kabuto's form. The older man was wetting the back of his neck in the small, sandy pool of water.

Kabuto looked up as they approached and raised one eyebrow at Itachi, replacing the round spectacles on his now-moistened face. "You're four hours late. Where is Kagome-sama?"

"She is with Sango. Sango will keep her out of trouble for the day." Itachi replied. "I blame Kakashi; halfway here, he intercepted me and made me go back for these two." Itachi jutted his thumb at Sasuke and Naruto. "We'll split up from here; you take Uzumaki and go west. I'll take the runt and go north." Sasuke bristled slightly and glared at his older sibling.

Kabuto nodded and looked at Naruto. "Ready?"

"To go with a traitor, hell no!" Naruto growled.

Sasuke smacked Naruto upside the head, "If I have to go with a mass murderer, I think you can handle a traitor." Kabuto and Itachi shared a questioning look but could not voice it before Naruto punched Sasuke, sending the boy face down in the dirt.

"Stop hitting me!" Naruto growled. "It hurts!"

Sasuke tripped Naruto and retorted, "It isn't supposed to feel good, shit head!"

In seconds, the two were rolling around in the desert sand beating on each other. Itachi and Kabuto pulled them apart; Sasuke didn't fight against his brother's grip, but Naruto fought against Kabuto to no avail. Sasuke smirked, and that smirk further angered Naruto.

"It's not over, Sasuke…" Naruto growled.

"Not by a long shot," Sasuke agreed, his lip bleeding profusely while Naruto's lip merely healed as though nothing had happened. That was something that was irritating Naruto about his fox tenant. Kyuubi refused to heal the bruises Lee left and they hurt like hell despite being a week old. Kyuubi could pick and choose what he wanted to aid the healing process on.

"Yes, it is." Itachi snapped at them both. "Uzumaki, go with Kabuto _now_."

Naruto didn't want to. In fact, he was completely ready to take on _all_ of them, just to prove that he wouldn't listen to an order he didn't want to follow. In his mind, Kyuubi urged him not to fight. _We can take them on another day, but for now you need them._

_I don't need them!_ Naruto insisted, but Kyuubi was just as persistent as Naruto was.

Kyuubi said, _You need them to get close to the girl! You want to summon, and as long as I am stuck in this cage, I can't teach you anything. If anyone is going to teach you, it has to be the girl! They can stop you from getting close to her!_

Naruto huffed but finally saw logic in what Kyuubi was saying. As though sensing that Naruto wouldn't fight anymore (for the time being), Kabuto let Naruto shake him off. "Come on, Uzumaki." Naruto watched as Sasuke turned and followed his brother away, glaring despite the fact that he couldn't figure out why he was so angry.

_Kyuu… why do I hate him so much?_ Naruto asked the fox.

Kyuubi chuckled. _You do not hate him at all. You love him too much, that's your problem._

_That doesn't even make sense,_ Naruto complained but the fox had become silent, proving he wouldn't argue over the matter. Naruto supposed he would just have to trust the fox to know what he was talking about. After living over nine hundred years (or so Kyuubi claimed) Naruto only hoped Kyuubi wasn't lying.

"Come on." Kabuto told him yet again and finally Naruto complied, following the traitor west. When Naruto didn't talk to Kabuto even so much as to ask what they were doing, the older man offered up the information. "You should be keeping your eyes open for strange animal deaths, and as we close in on Monty's Rock Gorge, keep an eye out for deep crevices in the rocks."

Naruto's eyes shot up from the sand he'd been staring at to Kabuto's back. His footsteps stalled and he knew confusion littered his expression. "Monty's Rock Gorge is three days walk away!"

"Smart kid. You didn't think we were just out here for a few hours, did you?" Kabuto turned his head to glance back at Naruto, a half smile tilting his lips.

"I can't be out here for that long! I promised Shaman hn'Cryn I'd eat lunch with her tomorrow!" Naruto said. Kabuto opened his mouth, probably to say some stupid thing that would only make Naruto more angry than before, but Naruto just ignored the silver-haired guy and stormed past him, continuing west, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists.

They walked in silence for two hours before Kabuto told Naruto to stop and rest for a few minutes. Naruto threw himself down in the sand and sat irritably in a cross-legged position, his bright blue eye watching as Kabuto pulled out his canteen and drank from it. Thinking that was a good idea, Naruto took his own canteen from his waist and went to drink from it, but sadly found it was empty.

_Great, I was so busy being mad at Sasuke, I didn't realize I drank all my water._ Naruto thought bitterly. Kabuto's canteen was thrust in Naruto's vision and Naruto looked at it in surprise. "Huh?" Naruto asked intelligently. "What's that for?"

"Most people use it to drink various liquid substances to keep from dehydrating." Kabuto said, chuckling. "Here. We're about two hours from another oasis. We can fill up there."

Kabuto brushed a cloth across his forehead and sat down in the sand not too far away from Naruto. The sun reflected off his glasses, giving him an odd look, as though he had no eyes. Naruto grumbled a thank-you to the man and drank from the canteen, replacing the cap and then tossing it back.

"So how long have you had slit pupils?" Kabuto asked and the question caused Naruto to instantly pale. His hand shot up to the bandage covering his right eye, despite the fact that he knew it was still firmly attached by how little he could see from that eye. Finding it was still on did nothing to appease Naruto's unease, though he chose to play the role of the idiot.

"What are you talking about?"

Kabuto's eye lifted and he extracted a sharp knife from a sheath on his ankle, with a blade polished to shine. Naruto immediately leapt to his feet, ready for whatever Kabuto planned to throw at him (knife included), but wasn't expecting Kabuto to just toss the blade in the sand in front of Naruto. "Your left eye. Look at it in the blade."

It was with great hesitation that Naruto knelt down and picked up the shiny blade, marveling only briefly at how nice the weapon was before he used the mirror-like blade to view his eye's reflection. What he saw made him gasp and drop the blade, and his legs gave out beneath him.

His eye hadn't been that way that morning when he looked in the mirror to tie on the bandages over his right eye… Now _both_ of his eyes were unnatural… His right eye was a deep-seated crimson color with a slit pupil, and now his left eye had a slit pupil as well. Would it too end up demon-red? He didn't need any more reasons for the people of Konoha to condemn him to the gallows!

"I take it this is news to you?" Kabuto inquired.

Figuring it didn't matter either way anymore, as he could no longer escape the changes through hiding his eyes, Naruto pulled the bandage off his right eye. "Well, sort of…" he muttered, momentarily closing his eyes and attempting to reign in his temper and the tears he wanted to shed at his dismal situation. _Kyuu, you promised! You promised I wouldn't change anymore!_

_I did no such thing._ Kyuubi mumbled sleepily. How dare that fox be so calm when Naruto's emotions were raging like a pregnant woman with PMS? Although why Naruto was so on-edge lately, Naruto couldn't even begin to explain. _I told you if you weren't linked to me, you wouldn't change anymore. There's a difference._

_I'm not freeing you so you can go ballistic on Konoha again,_ Naruto growled at the fox.

_I never mentioned being 'free' would stop this. Even if I were free of this cage, your body would still begin to take on more attributes like me because you and I are linked together. And I'll be damned if I let you go now. You're mine, and I'm yours; accept the changes in your body as inevitable._ Kyuubi snorted and Naruto could swear if he'd been in front of the fox, he would have seen it peer lazily at him through the bars of his cage with his chin on his forepaws, the ultimate example of complete relaxation. Kyuubi chuckled then, _Besides… you'll be cute with a tail or nine._

Naruto's eyes shot wide open and he couldn't keep his thoughts non-verbal. He squeaked, "Tails?"

Kabuto's eyebrows rose into his hairline. "How long has he been talking to you?"

Naruto resigned himself to an interrogation. It just figured that Kabuto would know about Kyuubi. After all, hadn't he and Sasuke spent a lot of time together in the last three years? And Sasuke knew all that time, or at least Sasuke claimed he'd known… "A while… He got real talkative around May of this year."

_Oh, how coincidental,_ Kyuubi chuckled. _Didn't we meet in person around then? And I have to say I almost thought you were my daughter Noyami. You two could pass for twins._

"Shut up." Naruto told the fox, much to Kabuto's confusion. Naruto flushed and explained, "He said I look like a girl."

Kabuto chuckled. "Well, I have seen your 'Naruko' form. It isn't very manly, to be honest with you."

Naruto couldn't help but brighten up with his spirits as he took Kabuto's not-quite-complimenting words as a compliment. "You haven't seen the _real_ Naruko! See, I perfected the Sexy Jutsu!"

"Did you?" Naruto nodded. "Care to show her?"

"Damn straight I do! Not even Sasuke could tell she was me!" Naruto quickly transformed himself into his beloved Naruko and looked himself over. Her figure was smaller than Naruto, so his clothes didn't fit properly. The collar of his jacket slipped off her shoulder and her long hair swayed in the wind, the tips of the strands brushing against the sand he sat upon.

_This is what Rin must look like,_ Naruto thought, remembering Lee told him about his twin sister (well, actually Lee only said her name and wouldn't say any more no matter how much Naruto pestered the boy, claiming it further revenge because Naruto 'deflowered Sakura-chan'). _Beautiful, blond, shapely, a great ass, and infinite legs!_

_You'll be too busy beating back suitors,_ Kyuubi mused. _You won't have time to be Hokage or my Summoner._ Kyuubi sighed dramatically.

Kabuto looked at 'Naruko' critically, moving in closer to scrutinize the form. "May I?" he asked, reaching out toward Naruko's hair.

"Sure," Naruko said, her voice sweeter than sugar. Kabuto threaded a few strands through his fingers, impressed by the silky texture. "It's real hair, too." Naruko told Kabuto. "Not an illusion."

"This is amazing," Kabuto mumbled, taking Naruko's arm and pushing her sleeve up, examining the flesh. "Absolutely astounding. The sheer power you must have to use to keep up such a jutsu is," Kabuto trailed off, his eyes filled with questions.

"It doesn't take any more power than a regular illusion jutsu, but the Headmaster at the S-T Mastery School said my jutsu is easily a Jounin-rank jutsu. He never told me why, though." Naruko unzipped his jacket and lifted his shirt, pointing to his bare stomach. "I think its cause I change my insides too."

"You change your insides?" Kabuto asked thoughtfully, pulling a little chakra into his hand and touching Naruko's stomach, sending the warm, medical chakra into Naruko's belly. The bruises Lee had left that were hidden started to hurt less as Kabuto's chakra aided the healing without noticing what he was doing. Kabuto only meant to examine Naruko, but he did more and Naruko wasn't going to complain about it. "Fascinating; you actually have a female body. It shouldn't even be possible, yet you managed it."

"I know, cool isn't it?" Naruko beamed and dropped her shirt as Kabuto pulled away. "I didn't know how perfect I accidentally made the jutsu until I went to the S-IF Mastery School." She wasn't sure what compelled her to tell Kabuto. The man was a traitor, and her enemy, but she really just felt like it would be okay to trust Kabuto. Perhaps it was the fact that Kyuubi was completely relaxed, and that relaxed feeling was transferring into Naruko, but she couldn't be sure.

_I find you amusing, kit. You keep thinking of yourself as a girl when you're in girl form, rather than assuring yourself that no matter what you look like you're a man. If I didn't already know you were, I would call you bisexual._ Kyuubi chuckled.

"Shut up, dumb ass!" Naruko snapped at the fox and Kabuto's mouth snapped shut. Flushing slightly, Naruko amended, "Kyuubi! He's being mean again!"

Kabuto looked a bit disconcerted but he nodded in acceptance. "So you went to the ST and S-IF mastery schools?"

Naruko nodded, feeling pride at being able to say yes. "I got four mastery credits in all from those two. Cool, huh? Just goes to show how much better than Sasuke I am!"

"So you have the parts necessary… but are you able to get pregnant?" Kabuto inquired.

At that, Naruko couldn't help but deflate a bit. "Unfortunately…" Kabuto's expression urged Naruko to continue, but at the same time he said nothing as though he didn't want to be the one to force Naruko to bring up a subject she didn't want to talk about. Naruko did continue, a part of her just wanting someone else to know besides Jiraiya who was no help at all.

"When I went to the Sneak-Thief Mastery School, I developed the Sexy Jutsu so I could create perfect alternate identities in female form. At the Seduction-Infiltration Mastery School, since I was actually a guy masquerading as a girl, my male partners didn't use protection and I didn't take any birth control pills like the girls there did—because I was a guy. No one thought I would be completely perfect. Well, it didn't do me a whole lot of good." Naruko always felt depressed as she thought of what happened. "I got the male mastery credit first, and then the female mastery credit. I left with Jiraiya, and we traveled three weeks before I figured something was wrong. I couldn't change out of my female form, no matter how much I tried to release the jutsu."

"You were pregnant?" Kabuto asked, trying to keep the shock from his face and voice however much he didn't manage.

Again, Naruko nodded. "On top of that, I kept getting sick right before bed. When I asked Jiraiya why I might not be able to change back, he was as clueless as I was. A week later we found ourselves in Kumogakure, in Lightning Country, and Jiraiya took me to the hospital there. I had to explain all my symptoms to the medic and then she examined me and I found out I was two months pregnant."

"How did you take the news?" Kabuto asked when Naruko fell silent.

"You'd think that I'd be upset to find out, but when I found out I was so happy I started crying." Naruko ran a long-fingered hand through her blond tresses, twirling them around her finger as she recalled that day in the hospital. "Imagine it… me, the host of Kyuubi, and I was going to be a mom. Or a dad. Whatever—I was going to be _both_."

Kabuto smiled at Naruko's reaction. "So why 'unfortunately'?"

Naruko couldn't even bring herself to smile sadly. "I was crying too hard to tell Jiraiya the news, so the medic did for me. He asked me what I thought, and I told him I was really happy about it so he was happy for me too. We stayed in Kumogakure for two whole months, because the news had totally driven any other thoughts out of my head. Jiraiya never reminded me of my self-set mission to get Sasuke back either, because he never thought I should go after him. I was four-and-a-half months pregnant when I got sick, and my babies died 'cause of it."

Kabuto offered Naruko a bit of comfort by placing a hand on Naruko's shoulder in sympathy. "I'm sorry it happened to you."

"I'm the only one to blame," Naruko insisted softly, unable to stop the tear that slid down her cheek at the memory. "I didn't listen to Jiraiya. I remembered I still had to find Sasuke and bring him home, so despite Jiraiya's protests that we should stay put until after I gave birth and the baby grew up a little, I made us go. We were barely two weeks on the road before I got sick. Then the babies came out. They were so, so tiny… And dead. I had two, a boy and a girl. Jiraiya wanted to take them away from me, but I almost took off his hand when he tried. They were mine, and all I wanted to do was just die for killing them."

"I'm really sorry, Naruto…" Kabuto said, his hand moving to rub calming circles on Naruko's back.

Naruko sighed, sniffled, and then allowed herself a tiny little smile. "At least I can sleep knowing Acorn and Leaf are safe in the Goddesses' arms. They'll never have to know how horrible I am."

Kabuto said nothing about the strange names Naruko had chosen, thankfully. Naruko thought they were quite nice names, but Jiraiya had sent the still-emotional Naruko into tears when he saw the names Naruko had carved on the wooden grave markers and told Naruko they were ridiculous. It was made even worse for Naruko because she believed the only way for a person's Ghost to get to the afterlife with the four Mother Goddesses was for the death to be celebrated as a new beginning. It was how she had been raised, and yet being happy over the death, trying to find it in a positive light, was so difficult to do. She knew that if she couldn't find a way to accept the death, then her babies' Ghosts would remain among the living and haunt people. There was nothing more that Naruko feared in the world than a Ghost, and that was why.

Kabuto patted Naruko's shoulder and said, "We should get going, or we won't make it to Monty's Rock before the rain starts."

Naruko nodded and released the transformation, using his sleeve to dry his damp eyes. As Kabuto replaced the blade in the sheath on his ankle, Naruto said quietly, "Thanks. For listening and…"

"Thanks for telling." Kabuto smiled. "Although you can now expect me to thoroughly examine everything about that jutsu. It is truly magnificent."

Naruto puffed up his chest, feeling smugness relieve him of distressing depression. "And it's all my own"—Naruto was abruptly cut off at the sound of an explosion southwest of their position. Both blinking at the distant noise, Naruto turned around to look. They could see a smoke cloud rising from beyond the sand dunes.

"No time for chatter—that may be something curious to check out."

Both of them took off running toward that pillar of smoke and as they came close enough to see, Kabuto swore violently, taking a deck of cards from his nin-kit. Naruto watched in amazement as he hurled the deck and it, in mid-air, formed a platform. Kabuto jumped onto the platform and pointed toward two figures who were running away from a half-dozen men. "Go after those two girls, and whatever you do, protect the one with the green bag!" Kabuto growled angrily.

Naruto altered his course, confusion settling in, but he picked up the pace.

_Hey, Naru-chan, it's that girl,_ Kyuubi said, noticing before Naruto did that one of the girls in trouble was Kagome.

"Damn it. She sure does get into a lot of jams!" Naruto grumbled. "First it was the mountain, then the inky-blobby thing, now this?"

* * *

**Incredibly popular... THANKS! **LuluCrazeD (I swear I have no knowledge of Kagome's pairing. Fuyumi used her blood trait and repressed the memory; now the only way for me to get it back is to keep writing and surprise myself), Kagome Miko207 (Lee isn't an alien, he's an Arthlezenithite, a member of a very ancient race of people who came before humans), anonymous Naruhinafan, AznPuffyHair (I am so glad you don't know where I am... and expect more drama to come), Niklos, Dragoink, supersillee06 (Oooh, not abandonment! Never! It was just such a nice place to stop, and gave a story that has too much angst/drama a more fuzzy feeling if only for a moment...), Dark Inu Fan, DarkRavie, Arcander, and those others who also reviewed after this chapter was posted.

Answer: Kyo Uzumaki's (the fourth Hokage in this story) journey log is now being posted separately for those who would like to read it without interruption. Part 1 is posted containing entries from Koumajutsu chapters 1-62. Check it out if you like!

_My hands are small I know but they're not yours they are my own, but they're not yours they are my own and (I am always writing)..._


	64. Empty Graves

Title: Koumajutsu  
Author: TK  
Disclaimer: I am selling Itachi, fifty bucks per night. Rent him, TODAY!!

Chapter : Empty Graves

Ever since finding out about the Uzumaki's having a blood trait, Neji Hyuuga (or would it technically be 'Uzumaki' now?) had been wondering about what that trait could possibly be, and why Hiyashi had claimed it to involve cannibalism. The desire to know was practically burning him up inside and the more time he spent with his 'new clan leader' the more questions he had about the Uzumaki's.

It was, after years of practice, a natural occurrence for Neji to seek out knowledge of anything that confused him and relieve himself of that confusion. As of yet, he had not been able to find out a single thing except that Rin was as terrible at cooking as Naruto was. He still shuddered at the memory of a mission Naruto had accompanied his team on, and the failed turn Naruto took at cooking. The boy had burned their food beyond repair. For the group's sake, they had agreed that Naruto would be in charge of dishes every night for the remainder of that mission and Lee, Neji, and Ten-Ten had (despite Naruto's hurt expression) excluded him from the cooking roster.

No, Rin _and_ Naruto both cooked worse food than anyone Neji had ever known. Naruto could burn what wasn't being heated, and Rin… Rin should not be near the kitchen. Maybe Naruto's food wasn't palatable, but Rin's was not _edible_.

Other than the fact that Rin couldn't cook and she had a worse sense of fashion than a wanna-be transvestite in drag, Neji still knew nothing. She was wildly unpredictable, just like her brother, but she was less verbose about that unpredictability. She was surprisingly cunning, she could be intimidating, and at the same time she appeared as innocent as a little butterfly.

And she hated shoes. She only wore them if she had to. As he followed her around the city all week, he found himself acting as a sort of shoe carrier. It was a self-set task, as she really didn't appear to care whether or not she 'lost' her shoes, but she really liked the small playground on the Maito subdivision. The small woman went there every day and she would take her shoes off the moment she was on the green grass, leaving them behind as she raced and spun and giggled around the playground as though she were celebrating being outdoors. Then she would fall to the ground and happily stare up at the sky as though she were basking in the autumn sun.

But nothing, absolutely nothing, from attempting to eat her poison (courtesy dictated he kill himself with it rather than refuse) to picking up her shoes after she left them behind gave him very much insight on this strange new idea that the Uzumaki's were a clan. Sure, he'd always _known_ about it, as a vague idea in the back of his mind. However, it had never been an issue before. The Uzumaki's were minor, despite their position on the high council. Therefore it hadn't been something he ever sought to learn about.

He was regretting that now.

Even her manners toward her inferiors gave him no peace. She treated Neji—a slave—as an equal, yet when they went to the prison the day before to pick up a strange man who was being released, Rin's behavior turned a complete one-eighty. She acted cold and hard toward those authorities within the prison, and even the sturdy prison warden was ill-at-ease around her.

The strange looks of the man they picked up left more questions in Neji's mind. Rin had said his name was Orooon. His release from prison earned him his solitary personal article—a thin pair of half-moon spectacles. The man did not speak Common, but Rin easily communicated in the man's native tongue.

Orooon was definitely something else; something not human. His chakra was bright like that of the demon sealed within Naruto—with a trait like the Byakugan, it wasn't hard to See the seal—and Neji wished he could see color with the Byakugan. Everything was all in shades of black, white, and gray, which was one of the downfalls to the trait. He could see color when his Byakugan wasn't activated, but color faded when it was.

Aside from the strange glow of the chakra, the man's physical appearance with pointed ears, obvious claws, slit-pupil green eyes, and _very_ long canines were also suggestive of a non-human. Some markings in particular stood out on the man: dark red lines wrapped around his eyes and six lines of crimson marked his cheeks like whiskers. His lips were bloody orange colored, rather than a natural peach.

Tattoos littered his flesh, ranging from lightning-like stripes to perfect circles. Red hair was cropped short around his head. While all the other tattoos on his torso and arms were in almost random colors, the particular tattoo that stood out most there was two rings forming an 'x' in front and an 'x' in the back on his upper right arm.

The minute the man was released and the chakra juicers that had been on the man's arms were taken off, Neji was very surprised by the sudden _surge_ of chakra that literally had the ground quaking beneath their feet. It had actually unnerved Neji (not that he showed it, of course) but Rin hadn't even blinked at it. She had squealed, "Hey-o, Orooon nana kotronda!" as though it were a greeting, and she'd hugged the red-head fiercely.

"Nana kotronda be quia so faw min da, Hey-o," had been Orooon's response in that strange foreign language as he presented a flowery bow to Rin. "Sika?" he had then asked, with a glance at Neji. Neji guessed he was asking, 'Who is that?' or something of that nature.

"Na-meko! Neji, dibotap! Ip yi ip!" And that was the point where Neji cursed not knowing whatever language the two were speaking. What the hell did she say about him?

After getting Orooon, they had made a bee-line straight to the new district (with Rin chattering at Orooon in that strange language the whole time) and left Orooon in what Rin had decided would be 'the guest house'. Neji hadn't seen him since they left the district.

Everything just confused Neji, more and more, to the point where he wanted to scream and tear at his hair. Of course he wouldn't do that—he was much too dignified, despite being a slave—but it didn't stop him from _wanting_ to. Why was this man released from prison? What had he been in there for? And further more, on the subject of prison, why had he heard the prison warden mutter "Kyuubi's brat" under his breath as though he were talking about Rin?

The questions kept leading right back to Hiyashi's violent reaction toward Rin's appearance. Neji knew Hiyashi hated Rin, and he'd always known Hiyashi hated Naruto. Pretty much everyone hated Naruto—it seemed to be the result of being a jinchuuriki—but Hiyashi _really, really_ hated the twins for a reason that seemed to be unrelated to the seal of Kyuubi. And Hiyashi _knew_ something. Something vital. Something about the Uzumaki blood trait.

At the same time, Neji didn't think Naruto _or_ Rin knew about it. Sure, he hadn't exactly outright asked Rin if she did (it wasn't his place, after all) but it was gut instinct that told him this. Apart from that, his _gut_ was telling him there was something very… to put it succinctly, _freakish_, about the new district. When they went Friday, Neji could _swear_ the fruit tree grove had…changed… He couldn't explain the feeling. Gai's warning to keep Rin out of the mysterious forest… did that include the fruit grove as well? Because that was a bit separate from the forest.

Neji sighed and turned over on Lee's bed. It was late in the afternoon, already nearing that frightening time when Min forced Rin to do some home cooking. He hadn't gotten out of bed yet; he had been unable to sleep properly ever since Rin forced him to keep sleeping in Lee's bed. Despite Min's objections to proper protocol (men and women shouldn't share a room), Rin had lain out a futon on Lee's floor.

She didn't sleep in it though. In the middle of the night—_every night_—when she thought he was fast asleep, she would approach the bed and as carefully as she could she would 'sneak' over him and open the window, climbing out of the room. His shock had been immense the first time she did that; at first, he had thought she was going to take advantage of her superiority over him in spite of his injuries and he would be forced to satisfy her needs. It wasn't unheard of for a slave to be taken into their superior's bed.

He had remained as still as he could, feigning sleep, and yet nothing happened. She barely touched him as she carefully made her way to the window and climbed out, pajamas and all. He'd been curious where she went, so when she was out he'd slipped out after her with ease that belied the pain he had been in. He watched as she went to Gai's back yard and lay in the trodden ground used by Gai and Lee as a small training yard.

Every night, she slept outside. He didn't know what to make of it. Why was she outside all the time? Was she claustrophobic? It wasn't like sleeping outside was a big deal, of course. He was used to doing it on missions. But then, before anyone had a chance to wake up, she would creep back in through the window as careful as she could and try not to disturb him. Then she would lay on her futon as though she'd been there all night and wait the fifteen to twenty minutes until Min came to call them out of bed.

Again, Neji felt a troubled sigh escape his lips. He closed his eyes lightly, trying—and failing spectacularly—to figure out Rin. He still didn't even know what Rin's goal was. What was she aiming for? What was she trying to prove? And why exactly did fate have to shove him with her?

As if to torment him, the bedroom door opened and—without opening his eyes—Neji could tell it was Rin who had just entered. He wasn't a member of a clan with highly sensitized nasal cavities, but he could _smell_ it was her even though she just entered the room. She always smelled strongly of green things. Flowers, grass, trees. The door closed behind her.

Her footsteps crossed the room, and he heard her opening her bureau. At the sound of something light hitting the floor, he opened his eyes and was quite shocked at the sight that met him. There she was, his clan leader, with her back to him and searching through her clothes completely nude. Her towel was on the floor around her feet, as was her bathrobe.

Neji felt his mouth go completely dry and yet he still found the need to swallow hard, several times. He couldn't even force himself to look away, his eyes drinking in the beauty before him. Why on _earth_ would she _drop the towel_ with him _in the room_?! He tried to make himself avert his eyes again, but it wasn't working. Not even the knowledge that _this was Naruto's fate-forsaken sister, damn it all,_ would make him look away. If Naruto knew he had a sister (Neji was assuming the boy didn't know) and if Naruto found out Neji was eyeing his sister up like he was doing now, Neji would probably be a dead man and Naruto would be arrested for brutal murder.

…Yet, despite the small woman's attractive curves and her beautiful tanned flesh, he noticed two things that stood out about her nude form. The first was a vine-like pattern of black reverse-spirals that seemed to crawl all over the right side—her right side, not his—of her lower back and her right buttock, continuing onto the back of her right thigh. The tattoos never crawled onto the left side of her body, as if someone had put an invisible line down the center of her body.

As interesting as those were, however, he found his attention attracted to the expanse of flesh on her back, revealed as it was with her long hair pulled over her shoulder so she could pat at it with a second towel even as she searched through the clothes in her bureau. He bit his lip to keep from gasping uncharacteristically (and just _what_ was she _doing_ standing _naked_ with him _there_!) at the sight of old scars lining her back, as though she'd been whipped repeatedly until she bled.

Then, if the world weren't already screwed up enough, she turned to look at him. She _turned around_ to look at him. Modesty be damned, with this woman. She was just like Naruto, obviously not afraid to flaunt her feminine aspects. How many times had Neji wanted to strangle Naruto for using that stupid Sexy Jutsu? He had refrained, obviously, but a couple of times it had been hard to do so.

He couldn't help it; his eyes followed her figure up, noting her long legs despite her short stature and how they were littered with tiny little cuts (was she sparring with someone?). Those markings—the vine-like reverse-spiral pattern—were on the front of her body as well, still remaining only on the right side. One particular vine stemmed up from her surprisingly taught naval toward her right breast, wrapping around the base of her breast as if cupping it.

When he finally managed to peel his eyes away from her body and actually look her in the eyes, she was cocking one eyebrow at him and her lips were twisted slightly upward. "Oh, my, I didn't even see you there." She said, and finally the ordinarily stoic and expressionless Neji had the grace to pale and then immediately afterward his cheeks heated up. Somehow, from her tone and her expression, he got the opposite feeling from what her words said.

"Y-you… clothing…" he managed to sputter intelligently.

Rin laughed. "Really, you don't have to be embarrassed. It's just skin." He still hadn't managed to look away. She asked then, "Would you mind helping me pick out something to wear? Min said to wear something that matches, and, well…" she trailed off, and he was grateful to be able to focus on something other than her exquisite body.

She was right to ask for help. She was absolutely terrible at matching clothes. Thursday had been an absolute disaster (in his mind) with what she wore. She'd worn a pleated black frog-print skirt with a bright orange hooded sweatshirt and a pink apron with ruffles over everything.

Of course, then he realized that in order to help her, he would have to go over to her bureau. He would have to go over to _her_. It wasn't possible to view the clothes from where he was to just tell her what to get. Fate had cursed him with a useless Byakugan at that point. Colors be-damned as well.

Neji swallowed hard as she waited for him to either agree to help or not. She didn't bother to cover herself up, not for his sake and not for the sake of her own vanity. She appeared quite comfortable, quite confident, in her skin.

He couldn't let her get to him, though. He chanted 'Grab clothes, get out' in his mind like a mantra and it helped him to stumble across the room. Yes, _the_ Neji Hyuuga (Uzumaki?), a Jounin-level shinobi, had stumbled. Not just _any_ kind of stumble, though. It was the kind he would _never_ live down for the rest of his life. He had retained grace until the very last moment and then stumbled right before he got to the bureau, falling into his new clan leader. With a small cry, Rin landed on her back with Neji straddling her, one hand braced on the side of her head and the other… on her breast.

Fate was cruel, and that was the scene Min walked in on after hearing Rin cry out. Neji and Rin both looked at the door—Neji's expression just barely managing to remain calm while Rin saw the pursed lips on Min's expression and blushed.

"It's not what it looks like," Rin and Neji _both_ said immediately.

Min pursed her lips more and said somewhat tersely, "It's your clan, Rin-chan, but I would hope you rethink your choice." She looked coldly at Neji, as if he ought to be flayed. "_Hyuuga_." Min growled at him and then she swept out of the room, the door snapping shut behind her.

Rin blinked and then looked up at Neji, her chocolate eyes filled with amusement. He couldn't help but look back down at her and she told him what was obvious. "I don't think she likes you very much."

Carefully he wet his lips and replied, "I am aware…"

A long moment passed and Neji found himself too captivated by her to look away. Her lips quirked into a wry smile then and one of her long fingered hands wrapped around his neck, pulling his head down. He was too stunned to do anything, and then she was whispering in his ear, her voice so sweet it sent a shiver down his spine. "Neji-san… you're fondling my breast."

That was all it took for him to shoot away from her like she was the plague and he stared at his traitorous hand. "I was… it was… I mean… I didn't…" He'd never been in such a position before. Of course, he'd indulged in activities with another Hyuuga _slave_ or two, but _this_ wasn't the same. He was absolutely terrified of what was about to happen to him (she could have him hung for assault) but then she was laughing. At him.

"Aw, I'm sorry Neji-san, but I couldn't resist. You just look so adorable when you're flustered!" Anger built up in him. She was toying with him?! Even though his expression never changed from completely horrified (which he still was despite his anger), Rin continued to chuckle mischievously. "And cute when you're angry, too."

Neji couldn't help himself as a sudden, irritated growl rose from his throat. "Why do you laugh at me?" He demanded of his clan leader, unable to stop himself. What right did he have to ask her anything? But she didn't appear bothered by the fact that he'd just taken a tone with her, as Hiyashi would say.

He doubted anything good would come of this day; he, Neji Hyuuga, had just touched Rin Uzumaki inappropriately and without permission. Even if by some grace of fate she decided not to kill him for it, if Naruto ever found out, there would be no place on earth Neji could hide. Naruto was very overprotective of his loved ones, so much that a blind man could see it plain as day.

"Because you're funny." She said, as though it was supposed to be completely obvious. "And I like to laugh at funny things." She paused, sitting up. Her eyes were laughing at him still. What was so funny about his discomfort? "Well, were you going to help me pick out something to wear, or did you just come over to grope me?"

Frustrated at the small woman, Neji tore his eyes away from her and got to his feet, schooling his expression into blankness. He stepped around her and tried to ignore the fact that she was just inches away from him. "What is the occasion for which you are dressing?" Neji asked (and would testify that his voice did certainly _not_ shake, even if it were a lie) only because it was required information.

"Min-san has made an appointment for me to meet with a builder to discuss the potential options for housing everyone." Neji supposed he should have guessed. Rin's suggestion to build teepees like a few Grasslander tribes she read about in books had not gone over well for Min the night before. Min did convince Rin around, and later after Rin had given in to the pleas of Gai's son to go play, Neji heard Min utter something about 'a step backward'.

Neji shifted through the clothes, pulling out a white sundress decorated in orange sunflowers. By that time, Rin had stood up beside him. He adamantly refused to turn his head even an inch, knowing he would see her naked if he did. He pulled open the drawer he knew she kept her wealth of aprons in (still unsure what her fascination over aprons was) and shifted through it until he found a simple white one. He knew if he didn't give her an apron, she would just grab one and it would likely not match the dress.

"It will be a warm day," Neji said, handing her the two articles. "You should not need an over shirt." Feeling his job was complete, Neji immediately asked, "May I do anything else for you, Uzumaki-sama?" His mind urged her to say he could go.

He was not lucky enough to receive a dismissal. "Actually, yes. You can stop calling me 'Uzumaki-sama'."

"Courtesy dictates a"—she cut him off.

"A proper title be given without question and to remain used at all times, public or private; yes, _I know_," Rin grumbled. "You've said that several times. Doesn't it matter that I _don't_ want to be called that?"

Neji again found his eyes on her and immediately had to avert them. She had the clothes in her hands, yet she wasn't bothering to dress! "_Custom_ dictates that, no, it does not matter, Uzumaki-sama." He knew she knew, as he'd told her several times already, but he needed a forced reminder to himself of his station. He was a slave, she was his master, and despite her desire to be called her given name, he couldn't afford to let himself take the offering. It would assuredly only lead to bad. The last clan leader he'd accepted the liberty from had beaten him half-to-death and gave him up.

"That's not the custom _I_ was raised by," Rin muttered lowly before she turned to the bureau. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her pulling out dark purple undergarments.

"White, Uzumaki-sama…" he utters, hoping by some fate she will have not heard (simply because it was already embarrassing enough to have to stand there, waiting for dismissal while she was in her fully unclothed glory).

"Neji-san, how are your ribs feeling?" she asked him and he could sense the true concern in her voice. Hiyashi would never feel concern for him. Not that it made much of a difference; she probably was just good at faking it. Again out of the corner of his eye, he saw her hand moving in her undergarment drawer, only this time she pulled out white panties.

Fate was oh so cruel to its loyal servant… Couldn't he turn away? No, not without permission from her. By asking for help, she commanded her slave's attention. He was lucky she didn't hit him for not giving her his full and complete attention by actually looking straight at her. But his disobedience could only go so far—or there was only so much he was willing to attempt. If she were in a foul mood, he wouldn't have attempted it, but she seemed in a generous enough mood at the moment.

"They are healing, Uzumaki-sama," Neji told her. They were a lot better than they'd been on Sunday night after Hiyashi beat the tar out of Neji. He was still sore in various places, but he had a few cracked ribs after the beating and for some reason Rin was frantic over them. Well, perhaps frantic wasn't the right word. She was mildly contemplative.

His eyes had strayed to her body again—damn him for being unable to keep his eyes away… He watched as she pulled her legs into the skimpy little undergarments, trying not to all the while she lifted them up her body and…

Fate be damned. To death. She was Naruto's damn _sister_ for fate's sake! Didn't that matter? At all? Did his body not realize the danger that would fall to him if he kept ogling the woman? He had to rip his eyes away from her as she dug in another drawer for a bra, pulling out the flimsy white garment.

"Are you going to tell me who did it to you yet?" she asked. Unbidden, his eyes were forced back on her when she began struggling over the clasp, trying to reach behind her back and simultaneously fix the straps together. The image was quite amusing, yet he was unable to let himself laugh for two reasons: Neji Hyuuga didn't laugh and when he did, it was only to be condescending. Reason two, he didn't want his clan leader angry at him for him laughing at the funny image she made.

"I fell," he said, giving her the excuse he'd given her from day one. It wasn't a complete lie, and she—as he expected—agreed with him.

"Yeah, you fell. Who helped you?" she asked, her chocolate eyes crossing in annoyance. Finally she gave up and turned her back to him—either fate loved him, or hated him… he wasn't sure anymore. "Will you please?" she asked, and he knew immediately what she wanted.

Never, in his entire life, had he expected to help a woman get dressed. He'd helped them undress enough times, but the day was to be one of 'firsts'. It only took him a second to fix the bra clasp. He had chosen to remain quiet for her first question.

She pointed out (after not getting a satisfactory answer), "You don't seem the type to 'fall down', Neji-san!"

"As witnessed not ten minutes ago, when I did most certainly _not_ fall down," he bit out, his pride wounded for having to lie at all and yet he paled instantly (which she didn't see with her back turned) because he'd just back chatted his leader. Lying wasn't the only thing hurting his pride, of course… the fact that he actually fell down on accident was quite a blow.

Rin—thankfully—didn't get upset. She didn't punish him for what was so blatantly a lie or for back chatting. Instead, she changed the subject abruptly as she tugged at the bra. "Good heavens, this clothing thing is really frustrating! I still don't see Mari's point to wearing it."

He chose not to say anything about it as she scratched at the flesh the offending article of clothing was touching.

"Nearly sixteen years without one, and now suddenly I can't exist unless I have one?" she half-ranted, and then turned to look at Neji, smiling at him in a way that totally set him on edge. If he wasn't mistaken, that was the same smile Naruto used to wear right before someone found their entire wardrobe had been dyed orange—and yes, Naruto _had_ done that to Neji, but Neji hadn't felt he needed to wear the clothes. He simply had another slave go purchase him new clothes. "Do you want to come with me?"

He cursed mentally at the sudden perverse thoughts. She shouldn't say those things, especially not when she was only in her undergarments! And he was so going to get killed for staring at her. He could only say he was giving her the respect owed to her as his master for so long…

No, that thought was _not_ there. He was not going to dwell on the fact that she was his master. Master was 'leader', nothing more.

"C-come?" he shuddered inwardly at his current capacity for intelligent speech. It appeared even Neji had a perverted side. Where could it have come from? Maybe it was from years of pent up frustration due to being a slave?

"Oh, my," she licked her lips slowly, a mischievous little smile tilting her lips. "I just realized—it's like a romance novel!" His eyes went wide, and he knew they did, but could anyone blame him for being completely caught off guard by her? No, they couldn't, because they would suffer the same fate. He waited for her to either change the subject, or continue. He would _not_, under pain of punishment, acknowledge that statement.

Continue she did. "You're having naughty thoughts, aren't you?" he successfully looked guilty as she laughed. "In volume five of the Make-Out series, Hoisen always stutters when he's thinking naughty thoughts."

Having been caught in the act, he couldn't exactly deny it. He averted his eyes and she laughed (why did his life suck again?), one hand going to her tattooed hip. Again, he found those markings on her body to be so—strange. Who in their right mind had tattoos that not only bordered their crotch, but practically dove in? Wouldn't that be painful to have done in so sensitive an area?

And he was _looking_ again! Why did she have to be so attractive? Why could he _not_ keep his eyes off her? He was supposed to _befriend her and sway her views_ not _ogle her at every possible opportunity_. Fate had cursed him. If only Hinata hadn't been in Suna! Then it would've been _her_ dealing with this… this, _whatever_ it was.

"I apologize, Uzumaki-sama… It is not my place." He admitted, trying (and failing) to keep his eyes from her lithe little figure. Her fingers were tapping steadily on her hip. He clenched his fingers when he realized he wanted to reach out and trace that vine-like pattern that trailed up her naval to her chest. His nails, dull as they were, actually pierced the skin.

Rin reached out and grabbed his wrist. He didn't fight her as she uncurled his fingers, examining the injury curiously. How did she know? She looked up at him like a fox through her lashes. It wasn't deep, but a few drops of blood pooled on the open palm. "Why did you do that?" she asked him innocently and she brought his palm to her lips.

_Shit._ It was the only word he could think of at the moment. Oddly enough, she trailed her tongue across the injuries. If his life was normal, he wasn't a slave. Since he was a slave, obviously… nothing that was happening was normal. She _licked_ the blood away! What the _hell_?

"Better?" she asked him, and he took that to mean he could take back his hand. He glanced at his hand, unable to stop himself. How could she do that? The little injuries were still present, but he was too shocked to realize they still stung…

"What…" It was like he was an infant again, just learning to talk.

Thankfully the woman understood. She smiled brightly and said, "I kissed it better; when you get hurt, you kiss it and it doesn't hurt anymore, just like Riba said."

His brain was screaming at him at the moment. What was wrong with her? Who was she? Who the hell told people 'licking' was the same as 'kissing'? He floundered for words, but none came.

"Do you want to come speak to the builder, Neji-san?" Rin asked again.

Finally he managed to speak somewhat intelligently. "May I be excused, Uzumaki-sama?"

The request actually caused her to look a bit confused. "Of course…" He was gone in a second.

xXx

Rin frowned after he had gone and picked up the dress Neji had picked for her, pulling it on. She wasn't sure why he was so uncomfortable around her. Was it because she had been naked? She didn't think that was such a big deal… Riba and the other foxes had always told her she had a beautiful body. They were the only ones who had ever seen her true form—not the eight year old one—as she grew up in prison. She had thought he was having perverted thoughts a few minutes prior and giggled, thinking she caught him in the act of thinking, but his hasty exit made her reconsider. He might have just been thinking she was ugly—too ugly…

It wasn't so bad to be naked, was it? Clothing was for warmth. If she could do without, what was so bad with that? Besides, it wasn't like she had no skin. Now _that_ would be embarrassing… to walk around without skin.

Rin sighed, her eyes falling on one orange sunflower pattern. Was she ugly? Did Neji think her body was disgusting and should therefore be covered? The thought made her a bit irritated. It was like Riba said; natural beauty shouldn't be hidden! That was why most female demons wore next to nothing.

_Well, it sucks to be him!_ She thought venomously. _I don't care if he thinks I'm ugly._ She thought about what Riba might do if he were in her situation. Of course, Riba would tell her retaliation was key. Orooon, being quite sensible, would tell her not to get upset over it. She couldn't help it though. Neji thought she was ugly.

She looked at the dress with half-lidded eyes, a mischievous smile coaxing its way onto her lips. She would just have to _retaliate_. If she was so ugly, she would make him suffer her ugliness.

She pulled on the sundress, then the apron. Rin _would_ have worn nothing at all, except Min _did_ tell her to get dressed. Besides that, she didn't want to catch a chill if she ended up out late in the evening.

Smirking, she tied the apron strings behind her back. The bow ended up a bit lopsided, but she didn't care. "He _will_ regret that," she muttered and left Lee's room to join Gai by the front door, slipping her feet in the sandals she hated so much.

That was another thing about Neji that bothered her. He was always picking up her shoes! Didn't he realize she was _trying_ to lose them? Surely if she lost enough pairs, Min would stop buying them! But the plan wasn't working because Neji was constantly picking them up wherever she left them. And just why _did_ he follow her anyway? He never really talked to her. He never played with her. Honestly, he would make a very boring fox… He didn't even growl, in pleasure or discontent!

_Now I know I spent too much time with Riba_, she thought, but it wasn't a bad one. It made her grin. Perhaps being raised by kitsunes in a prison wasn't the best combination, but it made Rin who she was.

They made it to Gai's father's construction company quite quickly. Gai led Rin through the front door of Steinem's Construction Company and the large lobby's center was interrupted by a desk. Behind the desk, a busy brunette sat chattering away at a phone.

Rin glanced around, noting the boring décor. The place had not one single plant in it. There were a few racks with browsing magazines and some lobby seats, but mostly it was just a desk and a brunette in her mid-twenties.

"Oh my _god_, he was just so _gorgeous_," the woman breathed. "And he was all mine. Seriously, the younger brother has nothing on the older. You just have to love those psychopaths… What? I'm totally serious, Anko! You can't say you never liked a guy like that; I'm like, your best girlfriend or something! You can't fool me."

Rin glanced at the woman. She was _completely_ ignoring them. Rin knew the woman had seen them. She was currently looking Gai straight in the eye, as if _daring_ him to interrupt her non-work-related conversation.

And Gai did interrupt. Boisterously. "Mariemi-chan!" he said, loud enough to startle Rin into nearly falling over. She gripped the countertop to keep her balance. "My beloved little sister! Is Father around? I must _speak_ with him, of matters so very urgent it would mean a delay to the springtime of youth if"—the woman slammed the phone down on the hook and stood, glaring daggers at Gai.

"Don't you come in here and yell your head off! I _will not_ stand for it! Damn it Gai, I have a job to do and you're here, interrupting business as usual!" The woman, Mariemi, snapped. "I _swear_, if you do that again—or if you say _anything_ about stupid springtime, I will tell mother! And you _know_ what will happen!"

Gai paled but he fell silent. Rin decided she did _not_ like this Mariemi. There was something about her that seemed …off. But then Mariemi was suddenly as cheerful as Gai had just been, and she turned to level that excitable stare on Rin. "Hi there! You _must_ be Naru-chan's sister right? Oh, my god. Aren't you just _adorable_? You're like a plushy!" Rin squeaked as suddenly the woman had bounded over the counter and tackled Rin.

_I wish Neji had come… He's a ninja, and isn't he supposed to be my clan member? I could've ordered him to get this woman off me!_ Rin shuddered and resolved that she would never again meet this woman without a fortified steel wall between the two of them.

_Wait a minute_… Rin thought, reeling back a bit as—thankfully—the woman got off her and helped her up. "You know Naruto?" she asked.

"Hell, yeah!" Mariemi gasped, as if surprised Rin didn't know. "Oooh, and Naru-chan is _so_ gorgeous now! He used to work for us. Bits of odd jobs, mostly, but he was always the hardest worker and he really picked up on things fast around the construction site." She sighed dreamily. "Freakily talented, that's our little foxy boy."

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it." Rin found herself snapping a bit jealously. No one, and she meant _no one_, could have Naruto without Rin's approval. She was a bit possessive of her big brother, but if she wasn't, who would be? It wasn't like they had _parents_ to be protective or possessive. It fell on Rin's shoulders to make sure he, the host of Kyuubi, had someone who _deserved_ him.

Mariemi's sharp eyes turned on Rin's and the friendly light in them disappeared in a flash. "Who are you to tell _me_ what to think? If I want Naru-chan, I'll _have_ him! You couldn't stop me in—ever."

Rin felt a sneer tilt her lips. "_Couldn't_ I?" she demanded.

Gai stepped between the two of them, keeping them separate before a fight broke out. It was a good thing he did, too, because Rin was tempted bring out her secret weapon: nightmares. She'd learned how to do it in prison. She never did have a whole lot of chakra, and what she did have was mostly used to maintain the transformation jutsu that kept her looking like an eight year old. However, if a fellow prisoner, or even a guard, started to get aggressive toward Rin, she'd come to learn that she could circle a bit of her chakra into their body and it would cause them to have nightmares.

The only downfall was that they didn't fall asleep right away. The technique was delayed until they went to sleep, and she didn't know how to put people to sleep, or if forced sleep would cancel the jutsu. Well, she supposed it was also a downfall that she too endured the nightmare, but Naruto had always been there. He called her 'Rini' and he would protect her from the nightmare she forced on someone else.

"Now, ladies! It is not youthful to argue like this! Naruto-kun is an excellent young man, quite capable of loving you _both_." Gai said, as if that was supposed to be a peace offering.

Rin growled lowly, and was surprised to hear Mariemi actually was echoing that growl—low, possessive, with a clear 'I don't want to share' message to it. Gai seemed at a loss, but then he chirped, "Father! We must see Father now, Rin-chan, let's go upstairs!"

Rin was dragged away, and the last image Rin had of Mariemi's features was a satisfied 'I won' smirk. Rin scowled. Naruto was _her_ brother. Mariemi would _not_ have him.

She was dragged up the stairs to the very topmost floor. Rin didn't quite mind; she'd found elevators were not her comfort zone already, plus it gave her time to cool down. At the top floor, they entered into a strange hallway where people flitted back and forth through doors, carrying rulers, small models, and various other articles.

Gai led her down the hall, weaving her past people who didn't even notice they were there. At the end, they entered into a small office, far smaller than Rin had expected the head of a giant company to be in. In fact, Lee's room was bigger than this office. A drawing table was set up, at which sat a broad shouldered man with massive hands. Rin realized the man was a double-image of Gai, except his hair was down to his shoulders and tied back at the nape of his neck.

_The woman downstairs… doesn't look a bit like this man…_ Rin thought, wondering if the woman looked like her mother then. It wasn't that odd of an idea to Rin, considering she knew Naruto looked like a smaller double of their father, and Rin was almost exactly like their mother, if a bit smaller as well.

"Father! I have brought Rin-chan to meet you! She is very excited to make your acquaintance in the prime—"

The man swiveled on his chair so fast it caused Rin to take a step backward. If it hadn't been for the door, she'd have fallen on her rump. The whole _family_ was unsettling her. She should have never let Min convince her to forgo the teepee idea. If it was good enough for the Nomads of East Sands, it was good enough for her!

"Rin-chan! It is wonderful to meet you! I am Gauron Steinem! It is a delight to see such a spirited, beautiful youth in you! I hope we have a beautiful business relationship!" He said, blessing their future dealings before he settled down considerably and looked her over with a solemn expression on his face. "Now, shall we get going on a design? I have the maps of the district Gai sent me. I just need to know what kind of architecture you like."

"I was thinking teepees," Rin suggested instantly and Gauron laughed. She felt her lips turn down in a frown. "I'm serious. I spent fifteen years locked in stone walls; I don't want anything to do with stones."

Gauron sobered at her logical explanation; he apparently knew she'd been locked in prison because he didn't ask what she meant. "Well, there are other options."

Gai opened his mouth to suggest something but Rin didn't particularly care to hear the suggestion so she cut him off, saying, "Can you build something similar to a Terran village that floats?"

"I could," Gauron said, "but I don't think you want to do that. The lake would be covered."

Gai began softly, "If you want to resemble Grasslander architecture," Rin nodded, her desire to do so coming from the fact that (from what she read) it was a lot less confining. If she had to have something built to shove all these people in, something she had to live in during the winter, she needed to make sure she could breathe within its walls. "Perhaps you could build like the Zuma tribe of the old days?"

Rin turned her head, pinning her eyes on Gai. "The Zuma tribe? I've never heard of them."

Gauron laughed briefly (sounding like a madman as he did) and then swiveled on his stool and began drawing furious lines on the sheet of paper before him. "The Zuma tribe no longer remains in any one place longer than three weeks these days, but about six hundred years ago the glorious tribe made home on the very ground we are on now! Where the city is now used to be a huge forest. They built their village in the trees and in the center of their village was a huge stone spire that would reach toward the sky. The Zuma would take shelter in the spire during dangerous weather like the blizzards Konoha has been known to have, which sometimes tore up their wooden village. And see? This is what an old Zuma village looked like."

Rin glanced down at the sheet and saw several different drawings beginning to take form; one was a view from the sky of the village. Each of the dwellings wrapped around a tree's trunk and they were interconnected through a series of rope bridges. The amazing thing was that as Gauron drew more of them, they seemed to circle around in a spiral… a reversed spiral.

_That looks like my birthmark symbols._ She thought, her hand subconsciously moving to her naval. She wasn't so sure they _were_ birthmarks, since the vine-like markings seemed to grow when she circled her chakra through her body and then pushed that chakra into someone else to give them nightmares.

As Gauron had said, a stone spire was placed in the center of the village, as though it were the very center of the spiral. He focused on drawing a more detailed image of the spire and Rin saw that the entrance was not at ground level, but it was at the level of the dwellings built up in the trees. Rope bridges connected the spire to five different places on the spiral, like the points on a star. A stone staircase circled around the outside of the spire as well, as though it were insurance in case the rope bridges were taken in a storm. The inside had a stone staircase and enough floor area to house people in the event of a storm during which shelter might be needed.

She really liked the design, she decided. "How much is this design?" Rin asked, hoping it would be less than what she would be getting from the council.

Gauron turned his eyes on her, beaming as though he were the sun itself. "Cost?" he asked her, and laughed. "I wouldn't charge you a penny!"

"What? Why?"

Gai's lip formed a stern, serious line and his father's features quickly sobered to echo that. Both men glanced around the small room, as though to be sure they were good and truly alone. Gai then lowered his usually boisterous voice to a whisper so quiet Rin had to lean close to hear. "Can you keep a secret, Rin-chan?" he asked. She quirked one brow at him. Who did he think she was?

xXx

Sakura was shaking nervously, her eyes darting left and right, taking in everything the small examination room within the Sunagakure Hospital had to offer. She was pacing despite the reassurances from Kakashi (who sat reading his smut book in the corner of the room) that everything would be fine. She wasn't so sure because all she could think about at the moment was Terrence's declaration of the Sunagakure plague, and her own disgust at how filthy all of Suna was.

Even the hospital wasn't up to the usual standard Sakura was used to. It didn't seem to bother anyone else; Ino and Fuyumi had settled right in to work at the hospital as was their orders from Tsunade. Once Naruto was better, the three medic-nins were all supposed to report to the Kazekage and from there advance their services to the hospital in any way possible.

Sakura couldn't stand how unbearably stifling the examination room was, or how the walls and floors weren't perfectly sanitary (she could see and feel sand on the floor), or even how the door to the exam room wasn't actually a _door_, but was instead just a blue cloth curtain. The bed was barely more than a table with a sheet on it, no padding, no pillow.

For the eighth time that hour, Kakashi looked up at her from his book and assured her, "Calm down, Sakura-chan. It will be alright; when you have the results you'll be able to make your decision."

Sakura gulped nervously and tugged the hospital gown away from her flesh, wanting so bad to just strip it away from her body. Even the gown felt gross and unclean. She didn't even care if having it off would mean she was stripped bare in front of Kakashi; it wasn't like she had anything he hadn't already seen on her or any other woman (although the likelihood of pink pubic hairs on anyone else he'd seen naked was slim…or maybe it wasn't…)

"B-but I…" Sakura shuddered again, hating that she'd let him convince her into going to the hospital. She should have just ignored him and let Ino or Fuyumi do an examination on her chakra pulse. Either of them would have been capable of doing that right at Naruto's home, and Sakura wouldn't even have had to submit herself to pee in a cup in a filthy hospital. Neither would she have had to change into a filthy gown and lay on the table and have a doctor take samples from her insides.

She hadn't even gotten a clear explanation why they were taking the samples, as a urine test would be accurate enough. However, her sensei had held her hand and actually kept his nose out of his book and whispered strangely comforting (yet disturbing) jokes at her the whole time which kept her mind off of how vile she found the proceedings (or more accurately, unsanitary, considering the doctors had been nothing short of professional).

Kakashi looked up at her from his book, his lone black eye holding a smile in it. "But nothing," he told her. "They'll get the results back soon and then we'll leave. If you like, I'll even take you right to the bath house."

Sakura only nodded but she didn't feel any more comfortable in that unsanitary place. She resumed her pacing, cursing inwardly. Why was it taking them so damn long? If Fuyumi had done an examination of her chakra pulse, she could have figured out whether or not Sakura's body was producing chakra suppressing hormones within five minutes!

Oh, that was right; Kakashi had intervened. For a moment, he had actually looked _terrified_, as Fuyumi came near Sakura with a glowing hand filled with green chakra. He gave no explanation, just smacked Fuyumi's hand away and glared coldly at the girl. Sakura had seen the hurt look in Fuyumi's eyes, though the green-haired girl only scowled at Kakashi and stormed away, calling him a useless, lazy, good-for-nothing pig.

"Sakura-chan, sit down. Upsetting yourself won't speed things up." Kakashi told her.

Frustrated, Sakura looked around the room for a moment, wondering if there even was a remotely clean spot to sit. Her eyes fell on Kakashi, slumped in his chair with his arms propped on the armrests, his nose still stuck in the smut book. It was, surprisingly, not a part of the Make-Out series.

She then glanced at his lap: the cleanest spot in the room, probably…

_Or the dirtiest,_ her little inner demon muttered. _Ew. You can't even consider it._

She pouted internally, agreeing only halfway with what her inner demon complained about. However, her fear of the unsanitary room was higher than her fear of the potential danger that might come from sitting in her smut-reading sensei's lap.

Ignoring her inner demon, she walked the few paces and stood in front of Kakashi until he slowly, _painstakingly_ lifted his eye from his book, glancing up at her heart-shaped face. Nervously she brought her hand up to her hitai-ate, touching the adorable little hair clip Lee had bought her which was still secured to the black cloth. Kakashi's eye went to that tiny, pink, heart-shaped blob of glass attached so firmly to the metal clip.

"What?"

If only Lee had come… Sakura knew he, at least, would have been quite chivalrous and probably would have cleaned the room with his _spit_ if she asked it of him. Granted, that would have been pretty gross as well, but still the thought somehow made Sakura feel warm inside.

Oh, for heaven's sake! What was wrong with her? She barely broke up with Terrence a week ago (not that they'd been together for long… she went on more 'dates' with Lee than she did with Terrence!) and now for some reason, Lee was all she could think about? Actually, that wasn't even true. She'd been having lots of thoughts about Lee since Terrence had ditched her (and yes, she did find out he ditched her, because he hadn't been _assigned_ to a team yet to be given any Class D mission, because his team was only assigned _yesterday_—which made her inner demon oh-so-pleased that Terrence was assigned to his two hated classmates Claire Rasmussen and Kyle Ravenworth).

Hell, she'd even started to store away little thoughts in her head that she wanted to talk to Lee about, like telling Lee about the Zuma and seeing what he thought about it.

"Sakura-chan, it isn't nice to stare." Kakashi told her dryly.

"I'm going to sit on you," she told him abruptly, before she sat on his lap as a child would their father. Kakashi's eye twitched as she settled herself comfortably, leaning against his chest, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

"What am I? A bean cushion?" Kakashi growled, though she could detect a hint of a tease in it and giggled in spite of herself. There was no doubt about it; she and Kakashi had grown a lot closer in the past week. She knew more about him than Sasuke and Naruto did, and that made Sakura feel favored. It didn't fail to make her smile to think about.

But… it felt nice. Almost like there was hope yet in her life. She glanced up at Kakashi through her eye lashes, wondering if she reached out, he would let her pull down his mask and see his face. She didn't try, though. Instead, she found herself trailing her eyes to the pages of Kakashi's book. He had to wrap his arm around her to turn the page, and to her surprise and delight, his arm remained around her in a half-assed hug. She felt like a million dollars at the moment; her worries washed away and she realized how much Kakashi had come to mean to her. Not just her, but all of Team 7. Sasuke and Naruto looked up to him too. He was… like the father in their happy little family.

Of course, put that way, she felt a little disturbed and her hand touched her stomach. Okay, maybe Kakashi could just be considered… oh, hell, she couldn't figure out what was up with Team 7; the four of them were just a team and would take care of each other—she hoped.

"What is this?" she asked, attempting to focus on the words of his book.

Immediately Kakashi snapped the book shut and tucked it away. "It's for mature adults." He told her seriously, though as she turned herself slightly to direct an annoyed glare at him, he shrugged and his eye upturned in amusement.

"I _am_ an adult," she snapped.

"I said _mature_," he chuckled at her.

She huffed and slapped his chest slightly in reprove, although he winced and she felt something strangely hard sting her hand, as if she had hit something that wasn't flesh and cloth. If he'd been wearing his flak vest, she would never have noticed it, but today he wasn't, claiming it to be too hot in Suna to wear such a thing. He still wore everything else though, so his claim made no sense to her. If he was truly so warm, he would've put on shorts and a tee-shirt. They were—supposedly—in friendly territory at the moment. (Of course, he might actually be as paranoid as his daughter was…)

Curious what she had hit, Sakura reached under his collar and surprisingly was met with no protest as she pulled out a length of chain. She'd never noticed it before, but then again when did she get the opportunity to see his bare chest or even neck? She'd _never_ been as close to him as that moment, physically or personally.

On the chain, she saw hung a simple white gold ring, much like a wedding band. She spun it in her fingers, noticing the fine engraving on the inside of the band. "Defend. Love. Protect." She looked up at Kakashi, surprise apparent on her features.

"Sensei, what is this?" she asked, her voice timid and uncertain, though she meant to be demanding.

"Looks to me like a wedding ring," he said and shrugged carelessly.

"No, no I mean… you're _married_? But, Fuyumi-chan… you said she was…"

Looking at him, Sakura saw as her teacher's eye seemed to crease with weariness and age as she dredged up memories from his past. She was expecting a rude response that wouldn't answer anything, but instead he deigned her with a response to which completely surprised her while simultaneously making her feel guilty for asking.

"I was married a long time ago…" he told her. "But…" his black eye turned on Sakura. "Her body stopped producing the hormone to suppress her chakra, and the surge of chakra killed our baby. After that, she was soon back on active duty in spite of my protests, and the first mission she went out on she never came back from… She was never found."

Sakura wrapped her arms around her teacher's neck, hoping to console him for his loss. "I'm so sorry, sensei…" she told him sincerely.

"Why?" he asked. "Wasn't your fault. You were still in the womb."

"It isn't fair that good people have to suffer," Sakura insisted.

Kakashi actually chuckled at that. "Well, I'm alright…" He tapped his forehead, a strange twinkle in his eye. "She's always been with me these last sixteen years, no doubt she'll be here the next sixteen too."

That made Sakura smile, glad that he seemed to at least come to terms with the death. And then Sakura had what she considered to be a brilliant idea. "I know! When we get back to Konoha, you and I will find you some pretty girlfriend. I know a few lonely medics who would suit you well."

Kakashi rolled his eye. "I sincerely doubt my _current_ lover would like that very much."

Sakura's eyes went wide and then she beamed at Kakashi, glad he wasn't still sad at remembering his wife. "Really? Whose the lucky lady?" Sakura inquired.

She could see even through the mask that Kakashi was smirking. "Iruka Umino."

Sakura took a moment to wrap her mind around that idea, her lips flapping like a fish at the sudden revelation. Whoever she thought he might have said… that was _not_ any where _near_ close. "I…Iru… but… but he's not… a girl…" Sakura stammered.

Kakashi just chuckled and ruffled her hair.

Talk then came to an abrupt halt as the doctor bustled back in and smiled at them. "My, now don't you two just look the cutest love birds ever?" the doctor said, mistaking their proximity for intimacy.

Sakura blushed and glared at the doctor, immediately snapping, "Do you realize how long I've been waiting here? I've been at this hospital since eight this morning, and its going on six!"

The doctor was quite taken by surprise, enough that he took a step backwards. "I—I'm sorry, ma'am…" he said.

Kakashi heaved a long sigh and said, "Do you have the results?"

"Well, y-yes, I do." He showed them the folder in his hands; Sakura was on her feet in an instant and had snatched the folder from the doctor, opening it to scan the contents. Again, the doctor seemed at a loss for what to do. Things usually didn't go the way they were currently.

"And you're one hundred percent certain you did the test right?" Sakura demanded, fierce green eyes burning holes in the doctor before her. He gulped and then nodded. "And then what were the other tests you needed to perform?"

"Those were to check for…" he began, sending a nervous look at both of them. Sakura tapped her foot impatiently. He continued, "STD's… Um, your husband suggested it…"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the doctor further. "And where are those results?"

"T-They h-haven't come back from the l-lab," the doctor stammered. Inwardly, Sakura was pleased that she had such a dangerous and intimidating affect on the man even without punching a chakra charged fist through the wall.

"You be _sure_ to get those to me as _soon_ as they're out. Just ask for Yamanaka at the Kazekage's house. _Got it_?" Sakura received a nod and the man was gone in an instant. She whirled on Kakashi and found he was wiping a fake tear away from his face, a happy smile in his eye. "What?" she demanded.

"My little genin students are all growing up so _fast_." He chuckled. "So?" he asked, standing up and tucking his book under his arm, now serious. "What's the verdict?"

xXx

Neji was _furious_. Actually, 'furious' didn't even explain what he was feeling at the moment. Rin was purposefully doing things to unsettle him. She knew, she _had_ to know, that he was a slave and therefore bound to await instructions. She had to know that he couldn't do anything—not even leave—without permission from her!

But she acted _surprised_ when he practically begged dismissal. Her expression had been one that spoke volumes. 'You want to leave?' It had been displayed all over her face. Of course he wanted to leave. He never wanted to be a part of her world to begin with; he didn't want to have to spend additional time in her company to top that off…

Neji breathed out an inaudible sigh as he made his way through the bustling streets of Konoha. As usual, the streets were full of people and carts all going about their daily business. It was just a good thing he wasn't going through the Akimichi district; the people and carts always seemed to double in size.

_I wish I had something… Even just a scrap of information on her…_ Neji thought bitterly for the millionth time that week. _Just something to ease my mind… Just some insight on why she is the way she is…_

Soon his feet began carrying him to Hokage tower despite the fact that he doubted there would be any missions he could go on. In fact, he knew there would be no missions he would be able to go on. However, he found himself entertaining the idea that he might be able to glean some information from some weak willed secretary.

Neji stepped in on the main floor and walked over to the receptionist. She batted her eyelashes at him after he made eye contact with her and actually found himself comparing this little woman to his new clan leader… finding the secretary to be severely lacking in beauty and intrigue. He might even have to call her quite ordinary. Not that he was really allowing himself those thoughts, though.

"Can I help you?" she asked, twirling her hair around one finger. If Neji cared to show this woman his true feelings, he would have vomited in repulsion. Seriously, they were supposed to be shinobi for fate's sake, and there she was attempting to flirt with him—with _him_, a Hyuuga!

Still, he supposed he had to be thankful that it _was_ a woman on duty; it would be harder to convince a male to give him access to the things he wanted. This was one of those times when his appealing looks came in handy.

She fluttered her eyelashes at him, a wide smile on her lips as she continued to play with the hair by her ear. Smiling at her was out of the question: it simply wasn't within his personality to flirt with anyone. Besides, he could barely contain the grimace he wanted to unleash. "Yes… I am here to receive access to the hall of records on behalf of my clan leader, Rin Uzumaki."

He was lying through his teeth, but the woman didn't notice. "Oh, I heard about that new clan thing. How is that working out?" the woman inquired.

"I apologize but I am unable to speak of clan matters without direct approval from my clan leader. You will understand." He didn't care if she did or not. He just wanted to get some information.

"Alright," the woman said hesitantly before reaching toward her belt clip and standing up. "I'll take you there. Right this way then."

He supposed he should be grateful that the woman hadn't asked any real questions, that she just took him at face value, but at the same time he wondered if this would get him into trouble. It probably would; he had invoked his clan leader's name, assumed permissions he really did not have, all to get what he wanted.

The woman took him down to the basement of Hokage tower and opened the door at the bottom. "Right then, here you are." She said. "If you leave you won't be able to get back in."

"You have my gratitude," he told her and entered the room, practically slamming the door in her face. The basement was filled with rows after rows of filing cabinets. Neji went to the "U" section to search for his new clan. However… he was soon more frustrated than he'd been before because the Hall of Records didn't exactly have the type of information he was _looking_ for. It was merely a place to store birth and death records, nothing more or less.

After a while searching through the Uzumaki clan White Book (a small book depicting the births to the clan) he wanted to tear the book up because nothing was turning up. However, his determination forced him to persevere and it paid off because when he came to the final records in the book, he saw—after a quick mathematical calculation based purely on what age most people have their children in Konoha according to statistical evidence—that the birth book was missing three generations from it.

Oh, he supposed the fact that an entire page was ripped out of it was a dead giveaway to the missing/stolen information, but he couldn't figure out why anyone would want to steal a page from a White Book. It made him curious; Naruto's generation of births was gone, and so was Naruto's parents, and possibly (depending on how old Naruto's parents were when he was born) Naruto's grandparents: all were missing. Why?

Neji turned to the Uzumaki clan Black Book (a book logging all the deaths) and wondered… He pulled it off the shelf and opened it to the end where the most recent deaths would be. The last one logged was Uzumaki, Sujo. His death was quite a long time ago, so he was either Naruto's grandfather or great grandfather.

Neji then noticed something strange… The death log recorded one very premature death in every generation… The further back they went in time, the stranger and more barbaric sounding their names were. He checked the names with those in the birth log and noticed that each of the ones that died premature had been the younger of twins. And it was _always_ within _ten_ days of their birth that their time of death was logged.

He found that a bit too… coincidental. Then he thought something odd, though he was unsure why he thought of it. Naruto's birthday… it was _ten days before_ the day Kyuubi attacked Konoha… What sort of coincidence was that? Were they _really_ cannibals? Or was there something…more…to this than he was seeing?

Neji put the books back in the filing drawer and once more sighed inaudibly. According to the birth records—if he overlooked the missing page—there were no births recorded in the Uzumaki clan. If he went by the death records, the last death within the clan occurred over seventy years ago, which would infer that the Uzumaki clan had died out.

But if that happened, then the Uzumaki's would have been removed from the clan council and a new clan would have been chosen to replace them. That didn't happen though, and a substitute—Pyota, if Neji recalled the name correctly—was chosen to be a stand-in until the Uzumaki heir (assumed to be Naruto) could take the position. Pyota, however, had been on the council for over twenty years… twenty-six, to be exact (if Neji's math was right, and it was never wrong).

And if Naruto was only sixteen (or would be turning sixteen in a month, anyway) that meant that there _had_ to be an Uzumaki alive sixteen years ago to conceive him. Naruto couldn't possibly just happen to be an Uzumaki by coincidence.

Plus, Rin claimed to be an Uzumaki _and_ Naruto's sister despite how she looked _nothing_ like an Uzumaki. She didn't have the characteristic blond hair, she didn't have the bright blue eyes, and her hair wasn't spiky. It was slightly curled. She had the same color skin as Naruto, a strange tan to it that wasn't like other Konohagakurians, but other than that, the two looked nothing alike really. Her body—Fate knew how tempting it was—was curvaceous, a lovely hour-glass figure with narrow shoulders and perfect hips. Neji knew Naruto's body was muscular, with broader shoulders than his supposed sister.

One thing they both had was long fingers. Naruto _used_ to have fat fingers—Neji couldn't help but pay attention to details and _engrave_ those details in his mind without realizing it anymore—but now that he'd grown taller, his fingers had stretched out much like Neji's own long-fingered hand.

Neji shut the drawer and made his way back up to the main floor. If the last death was recorded to be over seventy years ago, what did that mean? It was a puzzle even for the young prodigy. He wondered if it was possible that the clan really didn't exist anymore… What if Naruto was one of the many no-name children who were orphaned during the attack by Kyuubi, and the elder council was using the boy to suggest that the Uzumaki's still lived… so that they could influence the clan council?

No, that couldn't be it, because Pyota had been in place for a decade more than Naruto was in years. Perhaps Naruto's parents' bodies weren't found after the Kyuubi attack? If their deaths couldn't be _confirmed_, they wouldn't be recorded in the death log, would they? No, but…

"Oh, Neji-kun!" Neji turned at the voice, having just been about to exit Hokage tower. He glanced at Tsunade's assistant Shizune as she beamed at him. "It's good you're here… Could you deliver this message to Rin-san? I was about to do it myself, but could you?" She held out a scroll sealed with the wax seal of the Hokage.

_No, no, and never,_ Neji grumbled mentally, not wanting to go back to Rin. Who knew when he would get permission to leave again… now that he had it, he wanted to stay away until the last possible moment and in the meantime he could be finding out whatever he could about the young woman who claimed to be Naruto's sister. It had been different in the Hyuuga clan… He had more liberties than any other slave, because he was _head_ slave. There were permissions he could allow himself there because of that. Now, what was he? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Something of this must have shown on his features (though he was sure he kept a blank expression) because Shizune automatically said, "Oh! You don't have to deliver it _now_. It's just an invitation to Rin-san to meet Tsunade-sama. It's just basic protocol," Shizune's eyes twinkled merrily, "and you know Tsunade-sama; she _loves_ following procedures…"

Neji accepted the scroll with a nod. "Of course, Shizune-san; I will be sure Uzumaki-sama receives this promptly." Like hell he would… If she said it wasn't that important (and she had) he was going to finish his day up before returning to the unsettling woman.

"Thank you, Neji-san. So how are things going for you now?" she inquired into his personal life as he tucked the scroll into a nin-kit. She actually seemed quite interested. "You must be excited for this opportunity…" Neji deigned not to answer, merely staring at Shizune until her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Oh, well, I suppose you're as busy as I should be." With that, she thanked him again and parted ways with him.

Neji left Hokage tower, on the verge of actually scowling. He hadn't wanted this 'opportunity'. He didn't have a choice. He wasn't _given_ one. Change wasn't something Neji was able to adjust to well, but Fate was constantly throwing new circumstances at Neji…

His feet carried him across town to the small park housing the KIA/MIA memorial stone. He spent quite some time studying the names on the stone, but he didn't even come across _one_ name that was an Uzumaki. He supposed that wasn't wholly surprising, as the stone had only been around since the first Hokage was initiated into office and that was only little over a century ago. Konoha had been around much longer than that.

But… a clan that _didn't_ fight? It was a requirement by law. One-third of every clan had to be available to be called for active duty, since a great chunk of the military was comprised of clan members (although most clans, such as the Hyuuga clan, had very few non-military members). That was one out of every three people. If a clan didn't comply, they would be forced to leave Konoha. The death book's last name recorded had been Sujo Uzumaki; that name was not on the memorial stone. So—in over a century, not _one_ Uzumaki name had been carved onto the stone? That made _no_ sense…

Neji stood back from the stone and took a moment to pay his respects to the dead before walking away, feeling more frustrated than before. Death in the military was inevitable. Unless… Neji wondered… Unless they _did_ fight. Unless they were _that_ good…

Or—…

Unless that bloodtrait… that cannibalism… somehow sustained their lives. Was it even possible for a bloodtrait to do that? Was it _possible_ there was a bloodtrait that could make a person _impervious_ to injury?

Not really desiring to go 'home', but not sure what else he could do to avoid it (he—the genius—was running out of ideas), Neji let his feet carry him to a second opinion he felt he could trust, provided the lazy chunin was home.

As he approached the Nara's main residence, he saw Chouji Akimichi leaving. Yoshino—Shikamaru's mother—saw Neji coming and smiled warmly at him. Neji liked her, truly liked her, because he had come to learn that unlike the rest of the city's clans who pretty much scorned Neji for being a Hyuuga, Yoshino wasn't like that. She also didn't act like he should be a slave. Neji had been invited for dinner once, and when dinner was over and Neji made to assist Yoshino clear the table, Yoshino hadn't let him and instead made Shikamaru do it while Yoshino wanted nothing more than a bit of conversation, to get to know Shikamaru's 'friend' a bit.

It had been…nice…

"Good evening, Neji-kun!" Yoshino smiled at him, instantly standing aside to offer him to come inside. "I heard you made the switch! Congratulations!" she praised him, invading his personal space to hug him. He tolerated it, but didn't return it. In other words, he didn't close all her tenketsu points for it…

"Thank you, Nara-sama," he told her in a quiet voice, hoping his disdain didn't show in his voice or features. Yoshino was pretty perceptive about those things.

"It's so wonderful! And Rin-chan is such a sweetie… I've been baking for you two all day! I made you a cake." Yoshino pulled him into the next room, much to his discomfort at the proximity of the older woman. The warm flesh against his arm reminded him of that afternoon's rather…awkward…incident.

He still couldn't believe his hand had done that…

They entered the kitchen where Neji was forced—yes, forced—to take a seat next to Shikamaru's father (who smiled knowingly at Neji, as if saying 'I am _so_ glad her attention is on you, not me…') where Yoshino then bustled over to the cupboard. She picked up a large chocolate cake and moved it to another counter where she set it down and then sliced off an incredibly large piece of it. She then brought it back to Neji and set it, and a fork, in front of the young man.

"Oh, I'm so happy today! And tomorrow, Rin-chan will be sworn into office. If that isn't wonderful, I don't know what is! I can't wait for Naruto-kun to come home. I'm happy things are starting to look brighter for those two. And that you'll be right there to help them, Neji-kun."

Neji looked at that huge bit of sweet food. He disliked sweet food… He'd never finish, especially when it was _clearly_ a triple chocolate cake. Fudge practically oozed from the center, while the top was layered generously in chocolate frosting.

"…Yes…" he said, not really sure what else he could say—or if that was what she wanted him to say.

Thankfully, Yoshino then abruptly said, "Oh, I better get going. Neji-kun, I'm so sorry I can't stay long. I was just on my way to the store. Shikamaru's up in his room, so you're free to head up there…"

She bustled out of the kitchen and they heard the front door close, then Shikaku said over his newspaper, "You don't have to eat that."

Neji forced himself to eat it anyway, disliking every bite just a little bit less than he disliked Rin's cooking. When he was finished, he moved over to the sink. Shikaku told him, "Just leave it in the sink," when he started to wash the plate and fork. He finished the task anyway.

"Thank you," Neji told the man and he waved his hand in dismissal, his lips quirked in amusement.

"Shikamaru's room is on the second floor. It's the first door at the top of the main stairs."

Thanking the man again politely, he went back to find Shikamaru's room. It was easy to find, as the main stairs was right in the entry hall. He went up the steps and knocked.

"Come in." he heard, and took the invitation. He stepped inside, finding Shikamaru was at his desk doing something with a handful of photos. Shikamaru looked over at him and appeared surprised, "Oh, I thought you were Chouji…" he muttered. "Least you aren't my mother," he assumed good-naturedly before turning back to whatever he was doing. "What do you need?"

"I came to inquire your opinion on some information I came across…" he said.

Shikamaru's desk chair swiveled and Neji had the boy's full attention then. "How troublesome," he clucked.

Neji closed the door and crossed the room, sitting down on the edge of Shikamaru's bed. As he spoke of what he knew in quiet tones, Shikamaru's brow furrowed. When he finished, Shikamaru said, "What a bother…" His shoulders slumped and his fingers moved to his usual 'thinking' pose. A few minutes later, Shikamaru looked at Neji and then at the photos on his desk. He tilted his head at the photos, indicating Neji should look.

Neji stepped over and peered at them, noticing immediately that the photos were of the new Uzumaki district. Something was different about it, though, and that something was behind the house. The photo showed some sort of stone, like a memorial or grave stone but very large, was behind the house. "When were these taken?" Neji asked, not seeing a date on the photos.

"You recall when they thought Naruto was being impersonated recently?" Neji nodded. "That was when Naruto, Kiba, Chouji and I found this place. A couple weeks ago, Naruto must've taken Sasuke to the district because Sasuke found the deed to it hidden in the floorboards beneath the bookshelf." That answered _one_ question… The note and the deed must have been from Sasuke to Naruto… "There were a few other things there beneath the floorboards… broken picture frames, strange weapons, things like that… we left the deed out for Naruto. The four of us, Sasuke, Chouji, Kiba, and I started to fix up the house there for Naruto while he was in the hospital. I started taking pictures of the place."

"What is this stone?" Neji asked, pointing to it in one of the photos. He was pretty sure that was where the giant hole had been dug up in the district, the one that made Rin so very angry.

"It's the grave marker of Yondaime Hokage—Naruto's father—and his wife…my aunt…" Neji watched as Shikamaru lifted a picture from the desk, showing it to Neji. Neji looked closely at it, taking it in his hands as shock enveloped him. Shikamaru continued, "That… is Kyuubi…" The photo shook in Neji's hand. It looked…like Orooon, sort of… But more _commanding_. The presence, even in the photo, was enormous, enough to make Neji's knees shake. "He has the ability to speak telepathically with anyone who he meets in person. He warned me last Sunday—something was going to happen, he said. He didn't know what, just that he could feel it."

"You… _you met it_??" Neji asked, tearing his eyes away from the photo that he could swear was staring straight into his soul.

"This will shock you more," Shikamaru assured him. He handed Neji another photo, this time of an open, unoccupied casket that appeared to have just been dug up. Dirt lay on the inside padding of the casket.

"What…" Neji asked, not sure what this had to do with anything he'd just told Shikamaru about.

"_That_ is Yondaime Hokage-sama's casket. It was dug up by the Elder Council's loyal ANBU, from behind the house. It, and the casket of Naruto's mother, my aunt, were _both_ empty, and have _been_ empty. I doubt anything has ever been in those boxes."

Neji shifted over to the bed again, staring at the two photos in his hands alternately, his mind whirring. Yondaime… that was why Naruto looked so much like the stone face. How could he never realize that? And if the graves were empty… what did that mean? Why were they dug up?

…No deaths had been recorded for seventy years… No bodies were in the graves… What did this mean?

"Want to see something… interesting?" Shikamaru asked. Neji looked up and found Shikamaru holding out an old wood picture frame. He got up and put the photos in his hand on the desk, taking the photo. One glance at it was all it took before he dropped it in shock, a gasp escaping his lips. The glass shattered and Shikamaru apologized. "Sorry. I don't get it either…" Shikamaru leaned forward and picked up the picture frame, Neji bent to pick up the glass shards. "But it's here, right here, and it's dated—get this—September 23, sixteen years ago."

Neji's stomach churned as he looked at the photo through the remaining shards of broken glass. "Impossible…"

"I didn't realize the significance of it either. None of us did. Not until I saw Rin."

* * *

****

(Omake corner: You wrote it, I posted it… Thanks for a cute story!! Keep in mind, readers, that it is not canon-Koumajutsu. It's just a cute little omake written by my best friend, Forgotten Lake)

* * *

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own Tsubasa Kya, so hands off the best friend! She's mine. This omake, however, is not canon. It's just something I came up with and thought was funny, so here it is! _

Naruto finds out about Kakashi and Iruka 

After a few moments of silence, questions and answers and discussion filled the room that night between Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto. It took a long time, but they eventually felt at least a little better about the situation. They were all sitting around, absorbing everything, when suddenly a thought struck Sakura. "Naruto! How come you didn't tell me Iruka and Kakashi are dating?!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "WHAT?!!!!" he yelled.

"You...you didn't know? But I thought you and Iruka were really close!" Sakura said.

Naruto wasn't listening, however. He was already up and marching towards Kakashi's room. Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, and followed. Whether it was to make sure he didn't get in trouble, to watch him make a fool of himself, or a combination of the two, wasn't entirely clear, but they weren't going to miss this.

"KAKASHI!" Naruto yelled, banging on the door, "Get your ass up and out here! I have some questions for you!"

After a moment, a slightly bleary-eyed Kakashi opened the door. "Naruto?" he asked, and looked behind him to see Sakura fidgeting slightly and Sasuke looking vaguely...curious? Or was it disturbed? He just couldn't tell with him sometimes...

"What's this I hear about you and Iruka getting together?" Naruto demanded.

Kakashi frowned, not that it could be seen from behind his mask, and folded his arms. "And what does it matter to you?" he asked.

"I have a right to know! I can't believe no one's told me! Seriously, Kakashi, you're my teacher, but you better be nice to Iruka, cause otherwise I'll brush off my old pranking manual. I have plenty of ideas stored up that I never got around too because they were too much trouble," Naruto said, a warning look in his eyes.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Really? What are you, his father or something? He's older then you, and I don't have to ask your permission to kiss him until he's almost unconscious for air, to ride him until he can barely walk the next day, and then, for good measure, have both of us call in sick and keep going."

Naruto suddenly grinned. "No, you don't. But he is like my dad, and I really care about what happens to him. I just wanted to make sure you were serious. And Kakashi, seriously, don't try to shock someone who's graduated twice from seduction-mastery school. I know so many things now that might even make you blush, things that wouldn't make it into the Icha Icha series because it would be too graphic. Though, if you really want to have some fun, I do still have some of my textbooks from school. They have illustrations, and very, very good descriptions."

Kakashi's visible eye widened, and his mouth hung open behind his mask. "I've...I've heard about them, but never thought...could I...could I....TOUCH them?" he asked, breathlessly.

Naruto was looking slightly bemused. "I just said you could borrow them. That includes being able to touch them. You can even read them."

Kakashi's back straightened, and he looked over at the shocked, and definitely slightly disturbed Sakura and Sasuke. "I'm sorry, but Naruto is now and forever my favorite student. Naruto, let's go. NOW."

**Thank you for all the reviews everybody… I am unable to respond to reviews at this time, but I do appreciate them all.**

**(PS, I know how you love cliffies, so I decided to put in about five of them in this chapter... don't you just love me?)**


	65. Nobles and Rebels

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: TK  
_Disclaimer: Does anyone even read this anymore?_

Chapter 65: Nobles and Rebels

Kagome panicked as Aoife led her over yet another sand dune, but all they saw was more sand and a giant rock jutting out of the ground. They were being followed by four dangerous looking men; the fifth one had broken away from them and gone back, though Kagome was too frightened to try seeing what had distracted the last of the men.

Aoife stopped by the rock and circled around it. "Aoife, where is this hiding place?" Kagome insisted, looking from the woman to the ever-approaching men. Aoife didn't say anything, but began moving her hands along the rock's surface. "Aoife, we need to run!" Kagome said, slipping the strap of her bag over her neck and reaching in for the first Link her hand touched. It was the comb made of bone. She didn't want to Summon, but she knew she might have to.

"Ah! Got it," Aoife said with obvious delight and Kagome watched the woman reveal a foreign device that seemed to almost be a part of the rock. She fiddled with the device a bit, and then stepped back and the rock began to shake. Kagome heard the grinding of worn, rusty gears. The rock crumpled into a pile at their feets, revealing a dark opening. Aoife dragged Kagome into the dark space and they descended down what appeared to be a metal shaft.

Gasping at what she was seeing, Kagome said, "Great Merciful Mothers… This… An Arthelian city—Aoife, how did you know about this?" Kagome had grown up knowledgeable enough of the Arthlezenithites and the Four Goddesses; it was hard not to, when it was said that demons were the curse of the Age of Arthlezenithites. Not only that, but Kagome's father had been a Guro, and the tribe worshipped the Four Goddesses. Perhaps Kagome didn't get into the religion quite as much as her sister had, but she certainly knew enough to recognize as she descended into a city.

At the bottom of the shaft, Aoife touched something on a nearby wall and the place filled with a dim light that just barely cut the darkness in the large room. Kagome looked back at the well-lit elevator shaft. She wanted to stay there, where there was proper light, but supposed that would be a bad idea. The slavers might climb down on ropes or something.

"Not much power left…" Aoife said. She looked around them and said, "But we might be able to get enough power to activate a portion of the city if we go to the power plant and reroute power to one point."

Kagome had no choice but to follow Aoife as the woman grabbed her hand and pulled her after. "Aoife, how did you know this place was here?" Kagome asked again as they walked, her voice echoing off the walls of the metal place. They entered a room with nothing but a massive walk-bridge across what appeared to be a bottomless pit that extended far down into the earth.

"This is—or was—my home," Aoife said sadly. "Many… many years ago."

Shocked, Kagome asked, "How is that possible?"

Aoife shook her head as they exited through a large door on the other side of the bridge, entering into a wide corridor that was just as improperly lit as the other two rooms had been by two strips of light along the upper portion of the hallway's metal walls. Tripping over something, Kagome looked down and gasped.

The thing she had tripped over was a skeleton that looked just like a normal human's, except made entirely of metal. Strange clothes covered the metal bones, and a pair of glasses lay a few inches away from its head.

Aoife's eyes went hard as she saw the body, but she pressed forward, dragging Kagome after. "When this city was still alive, we were one of many cities hidden in the sea. The Noble Delegation and the Rebel Brigade both sought to acquire water city alliances in their endless fight against each other. We had joined the Rebel Brigade—a mistake on our part—and then the Star Children appeared."

"The Star Children?" Kagome asked curiously, shivering a bit as the chill of the dead city started to get to her. She knew about the Noble Delegation and the Rebel Brigade. The Arthlezenithites were said to have built massive cities that stretched into the sky; the wealthy Nobles lived on the top levels of the city while the rest were oppressed and suppressed into the filth, treated like less than slaves. The people of the lower levels of the cities grew to be violent and angry about the treatment they received and they joined together to create the Rebel Brigade, turning the world into a war zone. That was only the start to the Great Arthlezenithite War that ended the Age of Arthlezenithites, though. There was still so much no one knew.

Aoife nodded. "The Star Children appeared one day and were captured by the Nobles. The Nobles genetically cloned the Star Children with one of their own: Princess Arminiean. Many times. Flawed clones were incinerated. We Rebels managed to get the Star Children out, but the Nobles had created a perfect clone. Twenty years after the Star Children disappeared from our world, the Rebels were soon being slaughtered by the perfect clone. Everything it touched was destroyed, but then the Nobles lost control of it. It killed hundreds of Nobles; it was a weapon out of control, destroying Nobles and Rebels alike."

They had been walking for quite some time, and Kagome couldn't tell if they were being followed. Everywhere they walked, they saw and had to step over more and more of the metal skeletons. Some had broken items near them, small pieces of Arthelian technology. Aoife turned to a door and pushed a panel on the side. The door slid open and as they entered Kagome saw a giant room with many glowing lights on the wall. A panel was standing in the center of the room, which Aoife walked toward and started fiddling with. The lights on the wall began to flicker until all of them were on in a single area.

"This city was a research facility for the most part, although it had its defenses. One of my colleagues managed to get a hold of highly classified material from the Nobles about the Star Children—at the cost of his life. The DNA he obtained belonged to the Star Children, and the data said that the destructive clone was from Princess Arminiean's line." Aoife began leading Kagome out of the room again. "Come with me… I'll show you what we did."

The walk was filled with silence as they went toward their new destination. Kagome was guessing the slave drivers had given up on them but she couldn't really be sure. For all she knew, they were miles from where they entered the city. Less light was in the corridors as they walked, until they reached their destination where the lights were bright and flooding the place.

Kagome could see much clearer with more light. She could even see dark stains on the walls and floors around the bodies, as though blood had splattered or pooled, but instead of being bloody the stains were oily and still gleamed after centuries.

They arrived at their destination and Aoife unlocked a stronghold door using the panel on the right. They entered and Kagome found herself looking at a large room filled with strange tubes. Floating in green liquid inside each tube was the deformed body of men and women alike. Only one even looked normal, and just looking at him made Kagome blush. He was handsome…and naked. His bright blue eyes were dull and lifeless. His hair was two-tone colored, with two-inches of raven color at the end of every strand, but the rest of his hair a bright blond. In the back, his hair was short, but in the front it went to his chin. It was with no small amount of surprise that Kagome registered how incredibly _similar_ to Naruto this man looked.

"All of these are our failures to recreate the perfect clone," Aoife said, approaching where Kagome stood. "We thought to fight fire with fire, so we kidnapped Princess Arminiean for her DNA. It wasn't long before the weapon came looking for the Princess. At the time, I was still very young and hadn't had a metal body like the others. I hadn't made the conversion. When the weapon attacked, we stood no chance against it; a colleague helped me to escape with the data for the Rebels and sealed this room off. After that, I found my way to Arazalia, the God City, where there was a Rebel research facility my colleague had told me of. They didn't want to look at the data I brought, because we'd had such little resources at the time, and the project required a lot more than we had. Instead, we began thinking of other ways to counteract the Nobles."

"What did you come up with?" Kagome asked, fascinated by what the woman spoke of. Kikyou would have loved to be there at that moment…

"We stumbled upon the information that the Star Children were not of our world; we had already known that, of course, but over the course of years they would appear almost randomly and every time they did something very big happened. The last time they had appeared was when they were captured by the Nobles to be cloned; and they had no prior memories of our world. Many assumed the Star Children to be Gifts from the Mothers. Others feared they were the angry Curse the Mothers sent to punish the people for fighting. The people I worked with, and myself, feared the Star Children. With that in mind, we created a program designed to kill the Star Children at their next appearance."

"Why?" Kagome asked. "Surely they weren't to blame… You were fighting long before they came, weren't you?"

"Because the Star Children were known by _another_ less common name. 'The Destroyer of Worlds'. So we created the program **Arzyle Arminiean**—the Son of the Princess Arminiean—and used all of our resources and energy to perfect the program. Unfortunately, as happened with all weapons and technology of our race, it grew too fast to be contained. The program developed artificial intelligence and soon wormed its way into our lab's mainframe."

"We had computers at the Shrine. My sister said once that viruses could worm into them. Is it like that?" Kagome asked, receiving a nod in reply. She didn't actually know much about computers; Kagome spent too much time outside playing when her father wasn't making her practice her dancing, cooking, or music lessons to be caught up in learning about how to work the things, and even when she did try learning she always grew frustrated and wanted to take a knife to the blasted monitors.

"It began to network with every other facility in Arazalia and before we knew what happened, it was taking control of the city. It attached itself to the clone project and created bodies for the Ghost, or Spirit, that it had developed. It began killing and torturing people, but would not harm the Princess, and she taught it about the Mothers and told it death would never complete it, but _love_ would. It was an entirely ridiculous notion, but the bodies of the unstable clone program only lasted about twenty years before they burned out over the strain. Every time the program switched bodies, it would begin anew and search frantically for that 'true love' to complete it."

"Its… sort of romantic, I guess… but disturbing that a computer program could be so smart." Kagome conceded.

"It became more than a program when it developed a Ghost, which was something we had never been able to do. We had seen the problem ahead of time, here in this lab, when we were working on the project. After an extended period of time, the bodies would never last and we could tell this. This particular body," Aoife waved a hand to the strangely familiar body suspended in liquid, "was to be the solution to the problem: a metal and synthetic body could handle the strain, but it never developed a Ghost. Without a Ghost, its nothing more than a useless shell."

"Did Arzyle Arminiean ever kill the Star Children?" Kagome asked.

Aoife sighed, "No… Not that it really mattered much; after fifteen years, the program had developed itself so much that it could access any city, anywhere. It destroyed thousands of cities simultaneously. The Nobles' weapon managed to block the program from one city, and it took to the skies where it has stayed safe behind the Mothers' veil, a barrier that keeps Arzyle from connecting to the city. Anything after that, I'm sure you know more about… that's all Summoner area."

Kagome nodded slightly and looked back at the body in the glass, "The story I knew was different, but I think it's safe to say yours was more accurate. But after humans were made, they were split to be watched over by the Mother's children—Minor Gods and Goddesses. On one continent, the Grasslanders worshipped their chosen deity and sought minor wars with each other. On the other, the Mothers watched over the Purists and gave them the gift to bring the cursed Arthlezenithites into their world; part of a punishment for the Arthlezenithites warring was servitude to humans."

"I'm surprised you don't question me more on how I can be Arthelian." Aoife commented.

Kagome shrugged. "Well, it's not that I'm not curious, but it's very rude to ask a lady her age." Kagome grinned ruefully, "That might be a sore spot…" Aoife chuckled, sharing the tiny joke. "Anyway, my papa said the Arthlezenithites knew _everything_ until the Mothers took that knowledge away, so evading death must be a small issue."

"Not as small as you think, and certainly a very painful process," Aoife explained. "To become ageless, one must undergo complete cyberization. Human flesh would rot, so the Ghost must be removed from it."

Kagome shuddered. "No offense, but that's…gross…"

"It hurts, but the pain ceases when the process is complete. You said you were a Guro—they're Grasslanders, right?" Kagome nodded, verifying what Aoife already knew. "How are you, a Grasslander, also a Summoner?"

"The Purists came here in H.E. 1; that was when they landed on the shores of this continent. Around the same time, though no exact date is known, the warring Grasslanders made peace and hundreds of tribes sent their best warriors to form the Zuma Tribe, marrying the tribes together in what was meant to be lasting harmony. Forsaking their Gods, these warriors went and were charged with keeping the peace between the other tribes, but in H.E. 212 some of the Purists came and decided the Zuma were on their land."

Aoife snorted in an unladylike manner. "It never ceases to amaze me how similar humans are to my own people." She walked over to a panel on the far side of the room, though Kagome had no idea what the woman was doing.

Kagome could only nod and follow Aoife. "The Purists came in forcible numbers, and they thought they would easily blot out the tribe, but the Zuma were powerful. A while later, the Purists gave in to peace and soon Purists began to travel over the continent, some marrying Grasslanders allowing their children to see the threads of the veil. My family began as Purists, but my grandmother was a Nomad, my uncle was a Zuma, and my father was a Guro, and on my mother's side I have relatives who are from all over the place. After Purists crossed with Grasslanders, the ability to see the veil became rare and the Higurashi clan formed to be a clan of only Summoners. The Tengomi clan formed of those who could not Summon and battle between the two stretched for years until six hundred years ago the Tengomi and Higurashi united to form the Yobidasu. My papa used to tell me sometimes they would find a Summoner in the wilds, but they're usually found in the Hidden Ninja Cities now because that's where the highest concentration of Purists was. Some of the clans are still completely Purist in Konoha."

"Could all Purists see the veil?" Aoife asked.

Kagome shook her head. "No, it was a rare ability even—" Kagome paused for a moment and Aoife looked at her.

"Something wrong?" the woman asked.

"I… no. I just thought I heard something, that's all."

"I don't think those guys followed us down here, so it's probably nothing," Aoife smiled in reassurance. "Don't worry, we won't stay here long. We'll leave out a different exit than we came in. I just want to check a few things here. It's been a long time since anyone was here; some of the data appears corrupted."

Kagome walked over and looked at the monitor. It was full of strange, foreign symbols Kagome doubted she'd ever understand. Curious about a question she'd had earlier, she asked, "Has Arzyle ever found his 'true love'?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Aoife said.

"What happens if he found her and she refused him?"

Aoife turned her black eyes on Kagome. "Arzyle is a weapon. What do you think it would do?"

* * *

**I never thought this story would be such a big thing. There I go...thinking again... Will I ever learn?**

nightshadow04, twilightserius, anonymous naruhinafan (since when am I evil?? and Naruto's reasoning on why he can get someone pregnant is totally legit!), Dark Inu Fan (guess again, and I want Naruto to be awful at naming things), Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami (But if she didn't learn it from a kitsune, she'd be just another girl, wouldn't she? Sango? Who is that...), DarkRavie, supersillee06 (the last chapter had humor in it? I am so uninformed), mishap (sorry to disappoint you - its NaruHina, but hopefully you stick with it anyway), Arcander (Sessy-pants is so cold...), LuLuCrazeD (Kagome is paired with BEEEP.)

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR REVIEWING!


	66. Ýæn’s Offering

**Title: Koumajutsu  
**Author: Lazy TK  
_Disclaimer: Great Mothers! Do I have to do this?_

Chapter 66: Ýæn's Offering

The metal door slid open with a slight 'hiss' noise as she pressed the touch panel next to it with one bulky finger. As always, she was grateful for the extra tall, extra wide doors to the Argreena; in non-Arthelian dwellings or crafts, the doors were always too small for her. Perhaps she had grown into her ship, she thought with a small grin.

Striding comfortably into the sick bay, Arsendibar walked up to the doctor and the young woman who was getting stitches on her left upper arm. It was really a big hassle to have all these people on board who _didn't_ belong. Every day the doctor was reporting new injuries because so many people were cramped together that tempers were rising. It seemed to get even _worse_ after Arsendibar managed to unload the women who were Zodiacs.

"Almost there, Doc," Arsendibar said, feeling a sinking feeling in her gut as she said that. She realized she hadn't given much thought to what she'd say when they arrived. Or, more accurately, she hadn't given _any_ thought to it. With Naruto having fallen from a three-hundred foot drop, Arsendibar knew there was no chance of survival, but it had taken three weeks for her to be convinced by the crew to go find Naruto's rag-tag bunch of orphans and tell them what happened.

The doctor finished off the stitches on the scantily clad woman and nodded decisively. "There you are. Now stop fighting with the others." The woman slid from the bed and moved gracefully toward the exit with her nose in the air, as though saying 'Ha, as if I'm the problem!' Arsendibar considered the idea of taking her portable controller from her vest and making the Argreena do a swift turn, just to cause the woman to fall over, but decided against it at the last minute.

Those wenches weren't the _only_ ones who were getting fed up with the dramatic lack of space! Arsendibar was used to clean and spacious walkways! She was used to having her own cabin to sleep in! She was used to having privacy practically _everywhere_ she went, but now the only private place to go was the Crystal Room, though that girl Naruto saved did stay down there.

"I am pleased you're going," the doctor said with a smile.

Arsendibar wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, well I can always change my mind you know!" she didn't like the knowing look on the doctor's face, as if the doctor knew Arsendibar would decide to go. "He destroyed my docking lift! Why should I do anything for his dead ass anyway?" Sighing, Arsendibar knew the answer without being told and the doctor merely kept on smiling.

"Was there something you wanted, dear?" the doctor asked as she moved over to her work station and began sterilizing her utensils. Arsendibar made her way over to the station and—for lack of anything better to do with her hands—began fiddling with the med-panel, viewing the registry of recent patients. The doctor was very good with the computers in the Argreena and had figured out how to use the data system in the sick bay, using it to keep records.

Arsendibar never learned to use the computers. She didn't understand it herself, but it simply seemed to be something she _knew_. It was as if she could look at the computer and know exactly how to work it, where to go to find something she was looking for, and what to do with it. Years ago, when Arsendibar was still just a tiny squirt (although some of the crew swore there never _was_ a time when she was tiny) she had helped her father unlock portions of the ship that he had been unable to gain access to, though to that day she still had no idea how she knew how to do it.

The doctor was patient, waiting for Arsendibar to get to the point of her visit. Arsendibar pushed a few keys on the touch panel and exited onto another program, entering a security code and pulling up the monitor she wanted. Turning the screen for the doctor to see, it only took a few taps to zoom in on the figure. "She's… crying. Again." Arsendibar said.

The view on the panel showed a girl with her arms around her legs and her head on her knees. Her shoulders shook, and her thick, long hair was like a white blanket around her. It still hadn't regained any color after she took that strange bath on the mountain, and neither had her sight returned. Arsendibar didn't blame the girl for what happened after seeing that giant tar creature that had caused Naruto to 'go noble and die' and neither did a single other person on board. Once everyone was told about the demon that had possessed the girl, everyone had prayed to whatever god they believed in that it was dead.

_She_ blamed herself, though. She was no longer being sustained by the demon. She needed food and water to live now, but she ate and drank very small amounts only when Arsendibar or the doctor was there to make sure she did. They couldn't get her to eat regular portions, so she had become quite thin in just a few bare weeks, which was saying something considering she hadn't been Madam Blueberry before.

"The poor dear," the doctor said her eyes on the screen and her voice filled with grief. "I wish there were something I could do for her…"

Arsendibar shut down the program and reentered the med-program, setting the screen back as the doctor had it before she came and started messing with things. "I took her breakfast this morning… been thinking about something she said all day…" Arsendibar admitted. The doctor said nothing to prompt her to continue, which did make it a little harder to keep going. Arsendibar was _never_ in the habit of helping others, or going out of her way for them.

"I thought… after we go see… _you_ know… _his_ kids…" It was so hard to say 'Naruto'. Why did the puny little bastard have to go and kill himself? Stupid noble brat! Arsendibar sighed again and ran a hand through her short hair. She wasn't _grieving_ over his death. No, she made sure to find plenty of reasons to consider his death one for celebration so the moron would make it to the afterlife with the Goddesses, but that didn't mean she couldn't be _seriously pissed off_ at him for releasing the cables on the docking tray! Did he _know_ how hard that would be to replace? She still didn't have a new docking tray and they had to use rope ladders to climb in and out of the ship!

A vicious smile made its way onto Arsendibar's face. _Just you wait, Naruto!_ she thought. _When I get to where you are, I'm going to strangle you with them rope ladders!_ If the Goddesses' realm had no rope ladders, well, she was _quite_ sure she could improvise!

"Dear, I know you're angry at him, but please stop doing that." The doctor's voice of reason sliced through her musings and drew her attention.

Looking at what she was doing, Arsendibar realized she had at some point picked up a scalpel and started digging it into her finger. Finally registering it, Arsendibar winced and watched the blood trickle down for a minute. The doctor quickly took hold of Arsendibar's hand and bandaged the injury.

"How many times must I tell you? Do not focus so much."

"Yeah, but when I'm at the helm, you always say the opposite!" Arsendibar argued.

The doctor chuckled and said, "And yet you always find a reason to be distracted there! Now, what were you saying about the young girl?"

Arsendibar looked at her newly bandaged finger. It hurt, a lot, but she hadn't even noticed doing it to herself. Why did she focus so much on her anger toward Naruto that she registered nothing, but she could find herself unable to focus on a single thing sometimes? "She was saying," Arsendibar continued softly, "about her family… She said she wanted to go back home… to give her family the proper burials they deserved. I thought maybe we could… take her… Just, I don't know…"

"You're worried the crew will think less of you?" Arsendibar winced. The doctor had hit the nail on the head. "Well, don't you worry. I bet they wouldn't even mind if you offered to set the ship down and help the dear. Sounds to me she needs a friend, Arsendibar, and who better than you?"

Arsendibar opened her mouth to object—her friends always died—but a beeping noise inside her vest distracted her. Taking out the portable controller, Arsendibar pushed the touch panel. "What'd'ya want?" she asked. It was the bridge.

"Cap'n," her second-in-command said, "we got some real strange readin's up here. Th' monitors… they all're goin' off like fireworks. There ain't nothin' like we seen before!"

Frowning, Arsendibar said, "I'm on my way." She told Merrick. She disengaged the controller and stuck it back in her vest. "Sorry, Doc. Got things to do." The doctor didn't look surprised as Arsendibar turned and quickly made her way up to the bridge. When she got there, she snapped, "What's going on?"

Merrick shook his head. "Donno, Cap'n." Buzzers and beepers were emitting from panels all over the room. "Nothin' I seen before, an' I been with Argreena long as old Cid had her."

Wrinkling her nose at Merrick, Arsendibar said, "I know how long ya been here!" she rushed over to the helm and strapped herself in the seat jutting out from the ship, guarded by a surrounding globe of thick, highly durable polycarbonate resin thermoplastic, a high grade of plastic that would resist high powered rifle fire. On either side of the chair were panels with a multitude of keys. Arsendibar typed in her captain's code and brought up the holographic visuals. Pulling her goggles down on her face, the visuals became clearer—all the monitors' in the rest of the room were being projected in front of her and though she had never seen the readings before either, she knew what it meant.

A button on her chair's right arm easily got rid of the visuals and she typed in a code on the left arm. "Yahoo!" she cried out happily. "Boys, we're gonna score _big_ time! You'll never fuckin' believe it! We got ourselves an active Arthelian city right in our range!"

There was a murmur of excitement around the room; they had all grown used to Arsendibar simply _knowing_ things. Most of them had been around as long as Arsendibar could remember and helped her father raise her on the Argreena. It was a big reason why Arsendibar was picked as the logical helmsman and captain of the ship. She could handle it better than anyone, even if—very discretely so as not to ruin her reputation—Arsendibar did ask the doctor and Merrick for advice every now and then.

Merrick, always the voice of reason, asked, "Ain't it strange, Cap'n? I mean, we been this route dozens! We ain't never seen no ruins near here."

Arsendibar quickly changed their heading. Naruto could wait. His kids wouldn't be hurt if she didn't go _immediately_ to them. Never mind that it wasn't her responsibility to bear the bad news. If what Naruto had told her a while back was true, that little girl was probably a vicious squirrel in some former life. Although, Naruto did say he couldn't be sure since he hadn't had a chance to meet her yet…

"Ha! You worry too much, Merrick. Some kid probably thinks he's a pirate and wandered into the ruins of West Sands, unknowingly activating some self-defense mechanism." Arsendibar thought for a moment about the ruins. Yes, it did seem weird, but she wasn't going to waste the opportunity. It wasn't a ruins she'd investigated yet, so there was a great chance she could find much needed parts for the Argreena. The docking tray and the lift arms weren't the only things in need of repair.

And if the ancient Arthelian city had enough power left in it to register on the Argreena's monitors, then there would have to be some fuel cells there, which Argreena was in dire need of. The Arthelian Energy Crystal _did_ feed a lot of power through the ship, but the fuel cells were almost like the ship's life fluids. An interactive component, allowing the ship itself to communicate, to think, to react had been disabled for several years due to a lack of fuel cells.

Thinking about it, Arsendibar had to admit there was even a chance of there being a place to recharge their spent fuel cells down in the dusty, hidden city. They needed ammunition. More importantly, _she_ needed ammunition. She was down to her last fifty bullets, and that—to her—was just sick. If they could get a hold of it, they could see if the city had any data on the location of Arazalia, the city of Gods, which was one city Arsendibar simply _had_ to see some time in her life. Her father's ultimate goal had been to go there too.

Knowing there would be danger down in the city, Arsendibar called out, "Terro, pull up a thermal analysis of the city."

"Aye, Cap!" Terro called out.

"If we know where to look for whoever activated the city, we should be able to get close to the city's control. We're going to want to go in light, but readily armed in case a self-defense mechanism _was_ activated. Merrick, go search out some volunteers among the crew. We'll go in twelve-strong."

"Yes, Cap'n." Merrick said and made his way off the bridge.

Terro said, "I have the thermal scan for you, Captain. It's… odd."

Arsendibar pulled up the visual in one of the holograms. Seeing it, her eyes went wide. "What the hell?" she asked. "Do it again. That can't be right."

Terro said, "It's still the same."

Brow furrowed, Arsendibar wondered if she ought to simply not go but decided against changing her mind. "Then it's probably become some animal habitat like the ruins in the Zodiac Mountains. We'll just be ready and stay out of high traffic, shoot whatever attacks us, and take what we need. I really want to repair the lift and get some fuel cells. I'm tired of having to fly around mountains because I can't close the bay doors!" She cursed internally. Stupid Naruto.

She was _so_ going to give him a piece of her mind when she saw him again… Looking at her hand, Arsendibar pulled off her fingerless glove and tentatively clenched and unclenched her fingers. She didn't know _how_ she knew it, but she felt as if it wouldn't be too long until she saw him again. The doctor said Arsendibar needed to slow down… Her bones couldn't take the pace she was running at. She'd suffered several breaks in the past two years, and would suffer more if she wasn't careful…

Yanking her glove back on, Arsendibar pushed those thoughts away. She would _not_ be joining the Mother Goddesses just yet… Naruto would have to wait for his lecture. Arsendibar simply wasn't ready to go yet.

"Cap'n?" Tobu walked over to her with a thin data panel, confusion on his features. As always, Arsendibar marveled at the Arthelian technology. Data panels replaced paper and were nearly as thin as a single sheet, but far more useful. "There's something happening around the entrance to the Waste Management facility of the city."

Arsendibar took the data panel and looked at the images being displayed. "It's not our problem," she said, handing it back after viewing them. A single smoke pillar extending skyward wasn't going to cause her to turn around. A combination of buttons on her right armrest brought up a holographic image before her of the hidden city's blueprints—which would be exactly the same as any other ruins, as Arthelians designed all their cities identical to the last. Next she crossed over a holographic image of the heat sensors.

It took only a few moments for Arsendibar to cross another image over the previous two of the city's electric pulse readings. If the city didn't have power at the moment, she wouldn't have been able to do that. This definitely made navigation easier, because they could assume any section without power would be destroyed or otherwise unable to traverse through.

"But Cap'n?" Tobu continued, "We always go in through the Waste Management facility, don't we?"

"Not today. Duh! There's something happening around the entrance, and I don't want these suckers to know about our ruins! That stuff is _mine_!" Arsendibar zoomed in on another entrance they could use some distance on the other side of the city from the Waste Management facility. "It'll take us a while to get to the city's hangers from here but it'll be well worth it. We should be able to find the things we need in those hangars. I'll have a list of things you all will look for, and while you're there, I want to go to the city's control center."

xXx

Sasuke was _trying_ to be civil. Honestly, he was. But the heat—the unforgiving desert heat—was getting to him. Well, that and the fact that he had to share the company of his _beloved_ older brother. Certainly it was better than being in Kabuto's company. Kabuto was the reason Sasuke had 'x' shaped scars littering the entirety of his body, and part of the reason Sasuke nearly died.

The only thing that made Sasuke's day a little brighter was the fact that he knew exactly what Itachi was rooting around in the desert to find, and where to find it. Whether he would give up that information was highly favorable toward 'unlikely', but that wasn't the point. The point was that Sasuke knew something Itachi didn't, and it made him grin.

They'd spent over an hour walking in silence, and finally Itachi stopped walking and looked around them. His eyes narrowed and his body twitched. Then, he looked up at the sky. Sasuke followed the line of vision and shock gripped his body as he saw an enormous _cat_ with two tails and flaming feet circling their position. A few seconds later, the cat landed and two passengers climbed from the cat's back.

_That thing is bigger than Akamaru!_ Sasuke thought, hardly able to believe it. It was definitely not a normal cat. Sasuke had seen big cats before; lions were huge in their own right, but this thing was bigger still than a lion. It had white fur and black ears. A black diamond spot was on its forehead, and stripes of black fur were on its tail and paws. The giant cat's eyes were wide and completely red with black slit pupils and it had a puffy mane of fur around its shoulders.

Itachi watched the two, and Sasuke knew _the tone_ his brother used. Itachi was _very_ unhappy as the man and woman dismounted. The man—a monk, by the look of him—stayed by the cat as the woman rushed over to Itachi with a hard look on her face. The woman was dressed in a black body suit even tighter than Lee's and had pink guards and a sash around her waist. If Sasuke was in the habit of being embarrassed over beautiful women's shameless dress styles, _this_ probably would've done the trick of causing him to blush. It certainly left less to be imagined than Lee's outfit. Sasuke couldn't bring himself to be embarrassed though; the katana on her hip left Sasuke assuming the clothing was meant to be more for practicality and mobility than anything else.

"Sango," Itachi greeted her tersely, "why are you not with Kagome?"

"Because she's _gone_!" The woman said, her brown eyes showing every inch of her concern. Itachi's eyes narrowed and one of his eyebrows twitched. "She said she was tired and told me to leave. When I came back to check on her, she was _gone_. The servants claim she never left her room."

Itachi's mildly annoyed expression turned completely blank. There was no way to tell what he was thinking. _No,_ Sasuke thought, _he is furious. Who is this 'Kagome' that she can upset Itachi like this?_

"Gone…" Itachi began slowly. "You _listened_ to her and left?"

"You know how she gets!" The woman, Sango, snapped. "When she wants something, she stops at nothing to get it—even solitude. I saw no reason to argue over something so simple!"

"I doubt she was 'tired'," Itachi scorned the woman, causing a furious rosy hue to climb on the woman's tan features. "Did you ask around the city?"

"Of course!"

A plume of smoke from the corner of Sasuke's eyes caught his attention and he turned to glance at it. _Someone is using a hell of a lot of exploding tags…_ he thought as the monk stepped forward.

"Sango-sama," the monk began. He was rewarded with a scalding glare from the woman and a hard, serious look from Itachi. To the monk's credit, he didn't back down. Instead, he pointed to the distant horizon. "Perhaps it is divine intervention, but I believe Kagome-sama is closer than we could hope."

Sango saw the smoke. Itachi turned to look and his eyes hardened. Logically, Sasuke pointed out, "There's no guarantee whoever you're searching for is there."

Itachi murmured, "You don't know Kagome. I've never known a better magnet for disaster."

_Not even Naruto?_ Sasuke couldn't help but wonder.

Sango glanced at her giant cat. "Kirara can only take three passengers."

Itachi opened his mouth, but Sasuke interrupted. "Go, Itachi. With them." Itachi closed his mouth and gave Sasuke a long look. Holding his hands up in surrender, Sasuke promised, "I'll catch up." _Or… you'll catch up…_ Sasuke bit back the smirk he wanted to display.

A few minutes later, the cat and its passengers were circling up into the air. Sasuke displayed the smirk on his face as took off his shirt. He released the first level on the curse seal. It was painless as the two wings ripped through his flesh. The wings had once looked like two giant webbed hands protruding from his back; now after three years of developing the curse seal under Orochimaru and Kabuto's poisons, the beast inside Sasuke was in the proper direction and the wings of the cursed beast were where they ought to be: his back. The leathery, bat-like wings protruded from his back as spikes extended from his spine, dangerous bits of bone. Even though he didn't feel the pain of the spikes poking holes in his flesh and stretching, he felt the light trickle of blood.

_The Sharingan has to be blocking the pain. There is no other excuse for it._ He thought.

Taking to the air on large, leathery wings Sasuke flew upward until the cat became a mere speck beneath him. As he accessed the cursed seal, he _felt_ Kyuubi in his mind. The fox said nothing, but the fox's presence reminded him of the day Kyuubi had gotten them in the Chunin exam tower in training area 44. Kyuubi had said 'I want you,' and then bit him. Waves and waves of power rippled through him, and he'd felt every second of it.

_What did he mean?_ Sasuke wondered. As usual, he could provide himself no answer to that question. And Kyuubi wasn't forthcoming on the answer either. It sounded disgusting at first. Perverted. But—Kyuubi had overloaded him with so much chakra. Why? What did it serve Kyuubi to have taken over the curse seal from Orochimaru? That _was_ what Kyuubi did. He had explained as much, which meant Orochimaru couldn't use it to track Sasuke anymore, or to read Sasuke's thoughts…

_What does Kyuubi profit from me?_ Sasuke wondered.

The pillar of smoke was very near, and Sasuke had long since passed the strange flying cat. He folded the cursed beast's wings and dove for the ground at nearly breakneck speed. At the very last possible moment, he turned in the air and unfurled his wings to slow his descent. He touched down softly in a crouch about fifty feet from a burning covered wagon.

When he had arrived, he found Kabuto was already present, but Naruto was nowhere in sight. He counted eight wagons; five were on fire and those ones were freight wagons. The other three were cage wagons, low to the ground and very long. Several bodies lay on the ground in positions that suggested Kabuto had attacked them. Their bodies were littered with Kabuto's deadly **King of Spades** attack. The same attack that had left Sasuke with 'x' shaped scars littering his flesh. Except, unlike Sasuke, these people had no chance of defending themselves from it.

Sasuke's heart beat a little faster at the sudden thought that Naruto wasn't present. Did that mean Kabuto… killed him…? Surely Naruto wasn't stupid enough to go get himself killed? But there was no mistaking what he saw; Kabuto was kneeling beside a crying little girl with bunny ears, his hands glowing green with healing chakra. Four other bunny-eared people stood nearby, their eyes fixed on Kabuto suspiciously, though they did send apprehensive glances at Sasuke as well.

Releasing the curse seal, the bat wings returned inside his body where the beast lay in wait for the next time he called upon it. With the wings gone now, he pulled his shirt back on.

Kabuto looked up at Sasuke and smiled slightly. "Ah, Sasuke. I figured you would get here before Itachi. Do me a favor and break that lock over there?" He tilted his head at one of the covered wagons where a locked cage kept multiple people of various races.

"Where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked, not moving from his spot. He wouldn't do anything until he knew. Granted, it wasn't likely that Kabuto would kill the blond. Naruto would prove too much trouble and effort for one like Kabuto who preferred easier targets.

"Protecting someone," Kabuto said vaguely. "Break the lock, Sasuke."

Sasuke walked over to the wagon and glanced in through the bars. _Strange people_, he thought. All of them were like the bunny eared girl, with body parts of animals in addition to their normal human parts. A few he saw with tails and fangs, and others had spotted ears of a jaguar. One had sharply angled brown eyes and black panther ears.

Investigating the lock, Sasuke found without surprise that the lock wouldn't just be 'broken'. It was littered with inscriptions of chakra juicers. Whoever Kabuto had come upon, they were professional slavers. Orochimaru had plenty of those in his employ…

Shuddering slightly (but careful not to let it show) Sasuke pushed the thoughts away. He had to strip the chakra juicers from the lock before he could break it. He set about scratching the inscriptions from the metal with a kunai. It didn't want to go easy, but he supposed he should have figured as much. Remaining patient was easy enough, and soon the lock was free of chakra juicers. A forceful blow to the door left it swinging open at that point, and finally Itachi showed his ugly mug.

_Damn. I was hoping he'd fall off and die…_ Sasuke thought as he saw his brother. Still… Itachi's shocked expression at seeing him was plenty enough to make up for it. Allowing a small smirk to grace his expression, Sasuke said, "You sure took your sweet time coming…"

Kabuto rolled his eyes and said, "If you're done with that one, get the last of the wagons opened, Sasuke." He patted the young bunny eared girl's arm gently and said something to her in another language. He looked at the other bunnies and then at the people coming out of the wagon Sasuke just opened.

Sasuke scowled and moved toward the last wagon. Looking inside it, he felt confusion build in him and looked back at Kabuto. The darkened interior was empty. Kabuto was healing someone and talking to Itachi, not paying attention to Sasuke. The woman Sango was turning over every dead body to investigate them, as if searching for someone. Kagome, maybe? The monk was moving to assist Kabuto with the art of healing the injured.

A random thought crashed into Sasuke's mind. That girl… at Vvim's birthday party… wasn't her name Kagome? She was the annoying wench who stuffed him in a goat cart and carried him back to Konoha!

Turning back to the wagon, his eyes widened and he fell backwards at the sudden sight of a face…_right there_… How unnerving. Faces were not supposed to appear so suddenly. A woman's face pressed against the bars, her head shaved and her body unclothed. Her skin was the color of the night, and her eyes were wide and like her eyes were the shattered remains of red and violet marbles. She had no pupils or whites to speak of.

As he watched her, he felt more unnerved by her. The red and violet shards of color twisted and melted together, rotating and at the same time seeming stationary. She reached a hand out to him, pearly white teeth gleaming with her predatory smile. Captivated by her eyes—_So strange_—he found his feet moving toward her. She touched his face, running a finger over his eyes. "Ýæn rœx," she breathed in a soft voice that sent shivers racing up and down his spine. "Vare did yoo get ze Ýæn rœx?"

"The _what_?" Sasuke asked, struggling to keep a tight grip on his voice. It didn't work, and he didn't know why. He sounded drunk, and that made the woman smile. Realizing _she_ was the problem, that _she_ was doing something to him he tried to pull away. It didn't work; he couldn't release himself from the spell she'd woven around him.

_It isn't genjutsu; the Sharingan blocks all mental attacks on me automatically. I trained it to do that. What is she doing to me? Why can't I move? My body is frozen… _

"Ze Ýæn rœx. Ze eyes! Vare did yoo get zem?" She asked, her eyes—_So strange_—still locked on his. Her hand trailed to his shoulder, pulling him, urging him to come close to the metal door of the wagon. Vaguely he knew he should be doing something at the moment… What was it?

_Moving…_ he thought. _I'm moving… This woman…_ His eyes absently wandered the length of her body. She was short and stocky. He had to be a good foot and a half taller than her, but she was big breasted and—_I want to touch her…_

The rampant thought startled him and he shuddered. "I don't know what you're talking about…" he began. _Does she want to know about the Sharingan?_ Coherent thought felt impossible as he immediately wondered, _If I tell her, will I be rewarded?_

He tried to slap himself mentally, to kick his brain back into working right. Her eyes narrowed and he found himself worried he had displeased her. _What do I care? I don't know her!_ Logic shouted at him, while his brain whimpered, _She's so beautiful… just… I just want… her… I've never wanted anything as much as her…_ He didn't understand where the desire was coming from, because he really didn't want her and yet his body told him otherwise.

"Ze eyes. Zey are pinwheels, yes?" In spite of his better judgment, Sasuke found himself nodding. _No, say nothing! She could be anyone! _He screamed at himself. "Vare did yoo get zem?"

"The Sharingan is my family blood trait," he said.

For a moment she looked angry before she leveled a saccharine sweet smile at him. Internally, he knew she was dangerous and he needed to get _away_ from her. She was doing something to him, his tongue was loose, and whatever it was she did wasn't actually attacking his mental processes. "Vell, zen zat eez interesting. Yoo are Uki-ha."

"Uchiha," he corrected her. _Uki-ha? Just what is going on? What is she doing to me?_

"Uki-ha are sieves!" Her pink tongue darted out to wet her lips and his eyes watched it move. The gleam on her expression said 'run…if you can…' It mocked him. And it was angry. Her finger trailed along his jaw and to his lip. He could neither run, nor look away from her. "Zere eez no room for sieves. Zey must… _die_…"

The word was said with such finality that he shuddered again, feeling as though he'd already been pierced through the heart with a knife. _But I can't feel pain…_ His heart was pumping erratically and he realized he was holding a kunai in his hand. His hand moved of its own volition, bringing the sharp edge of the kunai up to his neck. _NO!_ he screamed mentally.

The woman looked eager to watch him die, but Sasuke could vaguely recognize his brother's voice somewhere… it sounded so far away…

"Let him go, Seig." Immediately the seemingly invisible hold on his body disappeared and he gasped and took the kunai away from his neck. "Go search the bodies for a key to the collars, Sasuke," Itachi growled, stalking over. Sasuke was all too grateful to obey. It got him away from the witch who somehow nearly killed him.

_What is the Ýæn rœx? Does it mean Sharingan?_ He wondered, his eyes darting to the wagon. In less than it took to blink, Itachi had the thing open and the woman was thrown on the sand. The distance was too great to hear what Itachi said, as soft spoken as his brother liked to be. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know anyway.

_What is a Seig? Is that her name, or some sort of title?_ Sasuke rooted through body after body but found no key to the slave collars worn by these people. He did find something interesting clenched in a man's hand, though. Peeling it out, he examined the item. It was a small four-leaf-clover stuck in amber.

He could feel the item had special properties; curious about them, he activated the Sharingan. As soon as he did that, he felt as though he had received a static electric shock to his eyes. Jolting slightly, he blinked several times. The world was white for a moment and then…

He stood, astonished, with the pendant in hand. Where was he? He had no idea, but it certainly wasn't the desert. Snow fluttered down around him and before him stood a weary man with stooped shoulders, dark skin, and a pair of the saddest eyes Sasuke had ever seen.

The man sighed and then turned to look at Sasuke. He spoke what sounded like a greeting although it was in a language Sasuke was unfamiliar with. After a moment of silence, with the brown eyed, dark skinned man staring at him, Sasuke began to feel uncomfortable.

Hoping to break the silence, he asked, "Where am I? How… did I get here?" _And what the hell is going on? First that… that woman… now this man… Who are these strangers?_

The sad man smiled. "I brought you, my son… Never fear… when you return, no one will know you have been absent. This is a place only Ghosts can grace, and where time cannot interrupt. Known to the Ancient Ones of my Mothers as _Ko-chiski_, there are few mortals left who remember how to access it."

"Ghosts?" Sasuke asked, feeling a chill run down his spine. He looked at his hands. "So… am I dead? Did that woman actually kill me? I thought Itachi stopped her…" _Although, why Itachi would bother, I don't know. I haven't given him well enough lately… If I think of it, I've been a real prat to him._ Sasuke had been disrespectful and a hindrance in any way possible for the past week, rebelling the fact that Itachi had beaten him almost an inch from death after he found out what Team 7 had done. The injuries still weren't healed, and Sasuke was sure he had a few cracked ribs but his pride wouldn't let him complain or ask someone to heal them.

"You are not dead, my son. If the young power seeker had not intervened, I would have."

Sasuke couldn't help but wonder who this man before him was. He was dressed for cold weather in animal furs. The man was short and thickset, with plump cheeks and curly hair that seemed doll-like in quality. His lips were full and pout, his teeth bright white.

However, despite the man's clothing style and the snowy surroundings of this 'Ko-chiski' place, the air was not cold. It wasn't _anything_. There wasn't even a breeze. Sasuke was neither cold, nor warm standing in shorts, a tee-shirt, and combat sandals.

"Why would you bother? I don't know you, and you don't know me." Sasuke insisted.

The man's smile was as sad as the last one. "I know you well, my son."

"Stop calling me that. I'm not your son." Sasuke snapped at the black man, his ire growing with each time he was called it. "Who are you? Why have you brought me to this place? And how did you do it?"

"I am Ýæn."

_Ýæn? The woman mentioned 'Ýæn rœx', are they similar?_ Sasuke recalled the white silk sash Naruto received from the black Zodiac ambassador, with the twelve symbols embroidered on it. Naruto had called it a Ýæn XII sash, saying only those who mastered the Ýæn XII technique received the sash. Was…could…this man be related to the two? The Ýæn rœx or the Ýæn XII technique?

"Tell me what you seek, my son, and I will tell you why I have brought you here."

Sasuke was confused by the question. What did the man mean 'what he sought'? He wasn't really looking for anything. He had everything he wanted in life, and anything he didn't have he could easily buy. He had more money he could ever desire, and even if he magically ran out of money he had a wealth in priceless art and other valuables currently in storage in Konoha that he could sell off. The Uchiha had been very well off in life, and all of that was Sasuke's to use as he desired.

The man seemed to sense his confusion because he said, "Your heart speaks of darkness, my son. A great weight burdens you but you speak of it to no one. Tell me what troubles you, my son."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man. Why would he speak to him? He didn't know this guy. But the man didn't flinch and his expression never changed from one of sadness. After a long moment of contemplation, Sasuke decided he wouldn't talk. Something inside him wanted to trust this man, different than the part of him that wanted to trust the woman. He had no idea what the woman did to him, but his instincts said this man was safe. No harm would come to him, so long as he was near this man. He wanted to believe that, but the skeptical part of him didn't.

_Faith_. That was what he felt from the man. It was the strangest thing to feel, and conflicted with everything he knew. Relying on faith was not something a Shinobi could afford to do; belief was not the same as action, and only action would bring results. Naruto was the only one fool enough to think that hopes and beliefs would provide positive results.

He realized he had a choice. While the woman had been capable of making him talk without his consent (he wanted to know how she managed it), this man wasn't forcing him. Kyuubi had once stopped Sasuke from saying his concerns to Tsunade. The truth of why he came back to Konoha—apart from being shoved in a goat cart. The truth of why he so desperately wanted to see Naruto while on his death bed.

He had told Naruto a bit of what he knew, but worried that saying too much would encourage Naruto to become a Summoner. Now, he frowned. Kyuubi wasn't stopping him. Did Kyuubi have no power over him in this place? Even still… he wasn't going to tell this man.

"I have never known any of my children to be as silent. Even the young power seeker spoke his will to me." Sasuke felt a scowl form on his face, and he was glad he said nothing. Anyone Itachi trusted would be no one Sasuke could.

"I am not your son." Sasuke insisted again.

The man ignored the comment. "You must face the darkness, my son. When The Destroyer comes, he will be of the Godless Ones. He will have the power to use the darkness against you."

"'The Destroyer'? 'Godless Ones'? What are you talking about?" Confusion continued to build in Sasuke's gut. The man's seemingly cryptic words were enough to make his head spin. What _darkness_?

"I have been watching you grow, my son. You have everything you need, but nothing you _want_. For the task you have set before yourself, you know what you _want_, but have what you need. You want power. Advantage." Images of Naruto flew through Sasuke's mind, unbidden, until that image transformed into one of Orochimaru and Sasuke shuddered.

"You… know…" Sasuke murmured. He didn't know how the man knew, but it was obvious enough.

"Yes… I do… I have what you seek…" Sasuke said nothing to the man. What was he supposed to say? The man didn't know what he was talking about. Sasuke could get whatever he wanted with his own hands. He needed no crazy old man (who was probably just a hallucination caused by the woman in the cage) to tell him what he wanted. "Like the power seeker before you… I offer you this." He reached out a thick gloved hand. A glowing sigil appeared above his hand of Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan, more like a pinwheel than Sasuke's own eyes were.

_The Mangekyou… even if it is a hallucination… why do I not reach for it?_ Stepping backward, Sasuke shook his head, surprising even himself. "As you said, I have what I need." _I am not Itachi. I do not need Mangekyou to be powerful…_ He couldn't believe what he was saying.

"But this is what you want…is it not?"

_If this is genjutsu, I want to know how the woman managed it. The Sharingan automatically nullifies genjutsu attacks. I taught it that. She could not have suppressed the Sharingan, could she?_ "Who are the Godless Ones, and who is The Destroyer?" Sasuke asked.

Warmth replaced the sadness in the man's eyes. The sigil hovering above his hand faded away. He smiled widely. The man walked over to Sasuke. He reached into his furs and brought out a four-leaf clover, handing the small, delicate thing to Sasuke. "h'Nei would be proud of you, my son."

Sasuke blinked and when he opened his eyes, he yelped at the sudden clarity of the world. He could see _everything_ through the Sharingan. The earth itself had a visible flow of chakra through thousands of veins. The earth's chakra was blue. Glancing around and wondering what the hell had just happened to his Sharingan, he saw the different chakra colors where he could not see before. Before, everyone's chakra was the same—red.

The ones who had been let out of the cages had blue chakra. Itachi and Kabuto had red chakra. Stranger still, each of them had something Sasuke had never seen before. In their naval was a pool of chakra, as if it were a second chakra core. Looking at himself, Sasuke found _he_ did _not_ have that reserve. He tossed the amber pendant down on the dead man.

The woman stood on the hot sand some distance away, watching Sasuke. Their eyes met and her upper lip twitched. _She wants to kill me… why?_ He couldn't understand. Her or the strange hallucination. Blinking away the Sharingan, Sasuke approached Itachi. Biting back his pride, Sasuke forced himself to say, "I… do not feel well."

Perhaps some sleep would make him feel better. Or maybe this was just a really weird dream?

"Understandable," Itachi said. "Seigs are dangerous enough to encounter. That one is very talented at what she does." Itachi tilted his head at the black woman, who watched them through half-lidded eyes with a predatory smile on her lips.

"What is a Seig?" Sasuke asked, quickly looking away from the woman.

"'Seig' is a master of seduction. She uses chakra stimulation to your tenketsu points to move you to her will." Itachi glanced at the woman. She immediately wiped the predatory gleam from her expression and smiled submissively at him. The change was so fast, Sasuke wasn't sure his brother even _saw_ it, or if all he saw was the submissive smile.

Realizing he was once more staring at the woman, he looked away. "How is that possible? I didn't feel any chakra touching me."

"That's the goal of a good Seig. The chakra she uses will be undetectable even with the Sharingan." Itachi turned his eyes to Kabuto. "Uzumaki should have come back with her by now."

Kabuto nodded. "I've done what I can for these people—"

The woman strode forward, her lips pursed and everything about her different than before. She seemed tense… nervous… He wondered if she knew she was still naked, or if she even _cared_. "Did yoo say 'Z'maki?"

All three men turned to the naked woman, watching her wet her lips. Her strange eyes continued to shift with those two-colored shards. Itachi asked mildly, "What is it to you?" Sasuke could tell his brother didn't _like_ to deal with the woman, but at the same time, his brother appeared wary of her.

"Zat eez vat I sought. Zere are no 'Z'maki. I vatched ze only von die."

Sasuke felt cold at that statement, but Itachi looked unfazed. He said, "Whoever you saw was not the person we speak of. It is a big world beyond your little mountain. There is much you will not understand."

The woman's eye twitched. "Eez it? Very big, yes? Vas ze name Naa'uto?" Even Sasuke felt impressed, and colder still. Itachi's eyebrows rose up a hair. "Zere eez no mestake. Zat I know." Her eyes fell on Sasuke and she licked her lips, smirking. "Ve vill meet again." She looked at Itachi. "Ze Uki-ha vill _perish_." Barely a blink later, she was simply _gone_. Sasuke gulped as he and Itachi looked around with their Sharingans, trying to pinpoint her location but unable to do so. Even with the strange new clarity of the Sharingan, Sasuke couldn't.

"Forget the Seig, Itachi," Kabuto said firmly. "She is wrong. Naruto is not being impersonated."

Itachi looked troubled briefly before saying, "We should still go after them. It has been too long; the boy may have run into more trouble than he can handle."

Sasuke rubbed his temples, closing his eyes for a moment. He wished the day would _end_ its strangeness. At least the day was almost over. That was a good thing. The sun was preparing to set on the western horizon, and soon darkness would overtake the desert.

The unknown woman and that Ýæn person… both of them had his mind swirling with questions.

* * *

**THANK YOU EVERYONE! Wow, 600 reviews! That's almost half of one thousand!** DarkRavie, supersillee06 (That's why I split up the chapter into sections, so your brain hurts less than it could), Dark Inu Fan (Lee isn't creepy! Cry...), KibaSin (Complicated? What blasphemy do you speak?), and to everyone else who reviewed after I posted again.

Answer: Next chapter, Naruto finds out the consequences of using too much of Kyuubi's energy, and Lee begins to find out how deep he has fallen for Sakura, and how far he will go for her love. Is the price too much for the boys? Will they pay it to find solutions to their problems? Only one has a choice...

_I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone, I recommend sticking your foot in your mouth at any time... (and reviewing!)_


	67. Ears, Tails, and Treasonous Thoughts

Title: Koumajutsu  
Author: TK  
Disclaimer: Seriously...

Chapter 67: Ears, Tails, and Treasonous Thoughts

The blow to the face sent Naruto tumbling across the desert and he growled, pulling on more of Kyuubi's chakra. Kyuubi's excited background chatter was distracting Naruto. The fox was like a running commentary, dictating everything that happened in Naruto's fight with a massive slave driver who clearly used to be a shinobi.

"Will you **shut up**?" Naruto snarled at his tenant. He'd been fighting the man for over an hour. His personal reserves of chakra had been depleted for a while now, but that wasn't surprising to him. They always went quickly, and took forever to fill back up. Kyuubi's chakra was a different story. If Kyuubi wanted to, he could fill him up with chakra as fast as Naruto could use it, and that was exactly what the fox was doing. Usually Kyuubi _didn't_ do this, or he was too busy napping to aid Naruto mid-battle.

Kyuubi liked his naps, and he liked Naruto fighting with his own strength.

_And the kit takes a heavy blow to the right cheek! Oooh, he's down for the count. One! Two! Oooh, and the kit's back in the fight! Stinky scowls at the kit. So threatening! The kit shudders. Is he scared?_

"Damn it, Kyuu, shut your damn mouth!" Naruto yelled, forming the seals for the Kage Bunshin. Three clones appeared; two went to occupy the slave driver and the third quickly proceeded to form the Rasengan in Naruto's open palm.

The man dispatched the clones and threw a kunai at Naruto's head. Naruto ducked and the incomplete Rasengan puttered out of existence. Both Naruto and his remaining clone swore. "Granted, you been a good fight," the man grinned toothily. "But play time's over, boy."

"Play time? Ha!" Naruto boasted, though he felt like he'd been run through a grinder. "I know _six-year-olds_ who play harder! I'm just warming up!"

The man chuckled. "Don't know when you been beat, do you?" He wasted no time. Naruto barely had the chance to think, '_This guy is strong…'_ He was pinned beneath the man, his remaining clone beaten. He felt the kunai in his forearm. At least he'd managed to bring his arm up in time, or that weapon would've dug a hole in his chest. "Truth is, I was surprised by you. Never thought you'd make it this long."

_Want me to take over, kit?_ Kyuubi asked, his voice filled with concern. The excitement he'd had previously was gone, replaced with apprehension. Kyuubi probably didn't think too much of the idea that he might just die along with Naruto.

"Ya shouldn't be surprised," Naruto growled, pulling on a mass of Kyuubi's chakra even though he knew the amount was too much for him to handle at once. "I'm the jinchuriki for the Nine-tails fox, Kyuubi!" That wasn't so hard to say… Good practice for when he had to reveal it to his friends. The raw chakra exploded out of Naruto's control. He fell unconscious from the strain before he could even know what happened.

A few minutes later he woke up and looked around him, confusion flooding every inch of him. A circle of green life—odd looking flowers, moss, and green grass—stretched out from him twenty-five feet in every direction. His body was sore and even Kyuubi's chakra was nearly depleted, though it was coming in quickly as the fox made more.

Standing up made Naruto dizzy and he nearly lost his balance. "Kyuu? Can you hear me?" Naruto asked, part of him being relieved when the fox responded to his call.

_Quite a show, kit. That was a pretty vengeful punishment you dished out._ Kyuubi said, and chuckled. Naruto felt as if all the color had drained from his body.

"What… happened?" He didn't want to know, but he had to.

_The ground swallowed him up._

"I… I'm a murderer?" Naruto felt rising panic inside him as he heard that. "I killed someone?" What ever happened to his Ninja Code? That he would never be like anyone else? That he would never take a life? Sure, the guy was a slave driver, but who was Naruto to kill him?

_No, kit. But it's tough to decide which is worse: spending an eternity as sustenance for a bunch of plants, or death. The element you tapped of mine is the green-life element; as you can see… its an element with a painful beauty. The plants will keep him alive, and he will keep the plants alive._

Naruto closed his eyes, trying not to think of what he'd just done. "Can I undo it?" he asked as he scratched an itch on his head. His fingers brushed against something very sensitive and the item twitched. Eyes wide, he brought both hands up and touched his head… "Kyuubi!" he yelped accusingly.

Lazily, the fox asked, _Yes, kit? And no, you can't undo it._

"I have fox ears!"

_He he he… a tail too. Incase… you know… you weren't paying attention. I did warn you though. Using my maryoku in excess would speed the process up._

Naruto reached in the back of his pants, his hand grasping on a furry base to a tail that was extending down his left pant-leg. "Kyuubi! Damn it, how much more will I look like a fox before they hang me?"

_My guess is with all the maryoku you just used, your body has sufficiently adjusted to its usage. Your mother only changed to have the whisker scars; the rest was internal for her. Although you _have_ exceeded her in every other way… You have my whisker markings, pupils, one iris, fangs, sharper nasal senses, and now ears and a tail. If you get anything else, it would likely be fur all over or maybe claws, but not both. You should be grateful. The ladies _love_ my ears._

Growling, Naruto said, "I already know how to get ladies to love my _normal_ ears!"

_You still have your normal ears, so I don't know why you're complaining,_ Kyuubi muttered as though surprised Naruto would be so ungrateful.

"Complaining! Normal people don't have four ears!" Naruto growled, tugging at the sensitive appendages. He yelped as it hurt him to do. They were real alright. "I'm a freak thanks to you!" With a heavy sigh, he released his new ears and looked down at the ground. "So… there's… I can't get him out?"

_…Not without killing the guy. Would you like me to tell you how to get him out?_

Naruto turned his head to the sky and let his arms fall to his sides. Closing his eyelids, he tried to soak in the remains of the sunlight cast by the sunset. _'No…'_ he thought, his heart clenching as he mentally sealed the man's fate. He wouldn't kill, even if it meant committing a man to a life of undeath. _'This…tail is…uncomfortable…'_ he thought. "I… need to go after Kagome-san…"

_Yes, you do._ If Kyuubi heard his thoughts, he spoke nothing of them.

Naruto was over an hour behind the slavers chasing the two girls. It would be hard to catch up, but he had Kyuubi. He never thought that would be a relief, but it was. He started running, knowing he was pushing himself beyond his limitations but ignoring the fact that his body screamed for rest. He'd never listened to his body before; now was not a good time to start.

Huffing slightly, Naruto asked, "D'you think… they'll… um… Konoha will… execute—me…for looking like… you?" Once he got in the rhythm of running it became easier to do without concentrating solely on that. Unfortunately, when he didn't have to focus on telling himself to keep moving, his mind began rolling through his worries. Most prominent was obvious enough; if he came back to Konoha looking more like a fox than ever, he was worried the city would think Kyuubi was taking him over.

_Hard to tell, but you shouldn't have to worry too much. A dead man once lied for you._

"What—do you…mean?"

_The man who sealed me said if you died, I would be freed._

"But that's…not true…" Naruto panted. _'I can't stop, or I'm going to collapse… I didn't realize how much chakra I used…'_ The depletion of both strength and chakra was certainly not having a positive effect on him.

_We know that, but your city does not. It has saved your life countless times to leave them thinking that._

Naruto had to stop. He put his hands on his knees and bent double, heaving in great gulps of air. He was feeling so dizzy, but he couldn't give up! Kagome needed him, and she still had four slavers after her. The world was spinning, or maybe he was. The ground found its proper place above him, and restless unconsciousness dragged him away.

xXx

Lee nervously fingered the extra-special sleeve on the extra-special dress shirt he'd gotten at Terrence's suggestion. Since Sakura was uninvolved—having broke off her relationship with Terrence due to what happened between Team 7—Lee had decided it was as good a time as ever to try capturing the lovely Sakura's heart.

Filled with determination to succeed and knowing that his past attempts to impress her had always failed, Lee sought help from everyone he could, asking what things women liked. He'd spent a great deal of time on finding out what he could do differently and he was really hoping it would pay off.

All of his friends had been completely willing to offer Lee advice. Hinata said girls like confident, strong guys who aren't afraid to stand up for their beliefs even under great pressure. Lee was generally confident, but he had to admit at the moment he wasn't feeling up to par and even wanted to throw in the towel and give up ahead of time to spare himself the heartbreak of another rejection. In spite of that, he could at least check off being 'strong', except when he noted how his knees were quaking.

It was so much easier to like Terrence when he wasn't dating Sakura… So he'd gone to the handsome boy for advice. It was an obvious move. All the girls liked the blue-eyed redhead, so Lee hoped to ensure his success at getting Sakura's love by talking to Terrence.

Terrence said girls like well-dressed men. Lee had argued that he _was_ well and properly dressed. He didn't show excess amounts of flesh and his outfit was practical for wicking away sweat from his body during heavy workouts. Terrence had agreed, but then he said, "Romance requires a different kind of practicality—the kind that you throw away."

The two had gone to a small tailor a few blocks away and Terrence picked out cloth to be sewn into clothes of very questionable nature (though Lee was assured they were quite normal). The clothes cost Lee a bundle of money, though there was never too high a price that Lee would pay to be noticed by Sakura so he didn't regret spending it. His shirt was made of a high quality silk imported from Golgawood. The dress shirt was a pale green and the buttons were crafted of green shell pieces. The sleeves clasped at the wrists and it had a collar around the neck he wasn't sure he should keep up or fold down (he wasn't used to wearing these kinds of clothes, so he didn't know what to do).

"Leave the top two buttons undone," Terrence had advised. Lee scowled at the unkempt person staring back at him in the mirror and buttoned the remaining two buttons. His collar then looked quite awkward the way it was, so he tried folding it down to see how that worked out. It looked much nicer, so he figured that was what it was for: appearances.

His trousers were a dark brown color, nearly black. Lee pulled them off the hangar and noticed the crease was crooked on one of the pant legs, proving they had been folded improperly. Lee felt his brow twitch in annoyance and he tried to rub out the wrinkle. It had to be perfect.

"That impudent, foolish tailor should have been more careful folding it," Lee muttered darkly, surprising himself at his cruel language. But what if Sakura noticed that the crease was wrong? How embarrassing would that be? He didn't think he'd be able to face it, but the crease just didn't want to go anywhere.

_I could… just go with it… like this…_ The realization was a punch to the gut and incredibly embarrassing. Go out there, in public, with a bad crease? How improper! The great thing about Gai-sensei's perfect and practical outfit was that it wouldn't crease under any amount of pressure.

"Great Mothers," Lee pleaded, "give me strength…to endure…" He pulled the pants on and tucked his shirt in and buttoned up. Looking at himself in the mirror, his eyes immediately roamed to the crease. Sakura would notice that crease right away, he didn't doubt it. Grasping his comb, he began combing his still-wet hair flat against his head. He'd just gone to the public bath house after sparring with Ten-Ten all afternoon.

When he was sure no hairs were out of place, Lee looked at himself once more in the mirror. "I look stupid," he grumbled. He wasn't even sure why he was still driving himself so hard to impress Sakura. Maybe it was because she was the unattainable princess and he was the poor peasant in the fairy tales. She was certainly beautiful enough to be a princess. But if he thought about it, Sakura was just a girl he'd met a few years back during the Chunin Exams. The minute he saw her, it was as though the rest of the world faded away and all that existed was them.

But she didn't seem to see him that way. So he drove himself to heartbreak after heartbreak, trying so hard to please her…

Lee supposed it was just as Terrence said. "Love and sensibility don't go together. If you love someone, nothing is going to make sense."

Grabbing up the gift Lee made Sakura, he walked to the hotel room door and put his combat sandals on. Ino said girls love to get flowers and Ten-Ten said girls like guys who know their weaponry. Fuyumi had said girls like things that are 'Sharp, dangerous, and go BOOM,' so Lee had a great idea to take exploding tags, various kunai and shuriken, and an electronic exploding device that would set off the exploding tags he'd built especially for the gift and combined them together to create a nifty little exploding bouquet that would litter any enemy within a fifty-foot radius full of kunai-and-shuriken shrapnel (if they weren't engulfed by the exploding tag's fires), and could be exploded by even people like Lee who had no chakra to speak of using a smaller device he made to be very similar to a TV remote (except it only had one button).

It was ingenious of him to so craftily combine three bits of advice into one gift, but he doubted any of those stupid pretty-boys that Sakura crushed on before could've managed it. Sasuke would've probably just said to hell with it and not even bothered getting her a gift at all! So that just went to show how much better and more gentlemanly Lee was!

With a happy smile on his face, Lee felt confident that even if Sakura turned down his offer of a date, at least she would be pleased to get the gift!

Trying to think where Sakura would be at that moment, he recalled she had an appointment at the hospital that morning. Surely she would be done with that though. Lee had a vision of Sakura in a hospital gown and felt his face explode with heat. For a moment, he wondered if the bouquet would feel the heat he radiated and exploded but it just remained carefully cradled in his arms looking as innocent as any flower with exploding tags and shuriken and kunai for blossoms could do.

Heading over to Naruto's little Suni abode, he knocked a few times on the door, and then a few more times for good measure. And, when he received no immediate answer, he knocked again. He was going to do it again—for good measure—but the door was thrown open by Moon-drop. Smiling at the young thirteen-year-old, he asked, "Is Sakura-chan here?"

Moon-drop blinked at him. "We don't want whatever it is you're selling." He then slammed the door in Lee's face.

Lee felt a frown mar his expression and wondered what that was about. Surely the kid recognized him… Moon-drop was a quiet boy, never rude like the others, and yet he'd just slammed the door in Lee's face! Or—maybe Sakura saw him coming ahead of time and just didn't want to deal with him…

Lee's shoulders slumped. How could he be so stupid? He got his hopes up and once more they were dashed. He'd been more hopeful than ever after they held hands… the night he walked her home… it had been special… It had been a one-time-thing, too, apparently.

"Friends can hold hands too, Lee," she'd said. Her voice alone was like a gift from the Great Mothers.

"Just friends…" Lee muttered. He didn't think he wanted to be just friends. He wanted to be more for her, like Gai-sensei and Min-san.

"Lee-kun, what are you doing just standing in front of the door? You _can_ go in!" Sakura's heavenly voice said the words he wanted to hear… well, maybe not the words he wanted to hear so much as…wait… Lee turned wide eyes on Sakura and found her and Kakashi to be standing behind him.

"Sakura-chan!" he gasped, his face flushing. She'd notice the crease for sure! But never mind the crease, she was talking to him! Was she going to tell him he needed to leave? But she'd just told him to go in the house!

Sakura looked curiously at the item in his hands. "You look really nice today, Lee-kun. What's the special occasion?"

_I look nice? I look nice!_ Lee could hardly believe the good fortune he had. Sakura truly had to be a gift from the heavens. She was too nice, too sweet, to be anything but a seraph, an angelic being of the highest order of the celestial hierarchy… "No special occasion," he said, trying to sound cool and detached like Sasuke (hey, the guy had all the girls, so why not?) but managing only to sound more nervous. "Um, I made this for you, Sakura-chan…" He pushed the deadly bouquet in her hands, watching as she looked it over and began to sweat a little.

_She must really like it,_ he thought with pride.

"…Thanks…Lee-kun…"

_Now's my chance! I have to take it!_ Lee thought. Clearing his throat a little, he asked, "Sakura-chan, I…" Kakashi was making Lee more nervous, though the older man did nothing to warrant attention. He simply stood a few feet away reading a little black bound book. "…What I mean to say is… I would really like it… to escort you to… dinner…"

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, likely to turn Lee down again, but Kakashi interrupted. He snapped his book shut and stepped over saying, "Sakura is unable to join you, Lee-kun. She has too much to do right now."

Anger blazed in Sakura's eyes. "I haven't even talked to Naruto or Sasuke yet! I can't do anything until I talk to them!"

Lee felt his heart break again. He supposed if his love life were a piece of paper, it would have big, red letters stamped on it: REJECT. Or maybe he wouldn't even warrant that attention. Maybe he'd just be tossed in the waste receptacle?

Lee slipped away, feeling very broody as the orphanage disappeared behind him and his exit went unnoticed. He almost felt like an ominous storm cloud was hanging over him. He jammed his useless, bandaged hands in his trouser pockets, and his right hand came into contact with the remote detonator. He stopped in the middle of the street and frowned at the detonator. His finger _itched_ to flip up the safety shield and press that button.

Logically there was no reason he should feel that way. Such an action would cause undue harm to anyone in the vicinity of the deadly bouquet. And it wasn't like he hadn't been turned down before. He just—wasn't usually turned down after he'd spent a couple days trying to do everything opposite of what he normally did, just to be noticed.

Lee felt his wide eyes narrow to mere slits and he began stepping purposefully through the streets. People began to give him a wide berth. _As well they should!_ He thought, surprising himself with the vengeful feelings he was having. He was Arthelian. He was Arzyle Arminiean CDXVII; the 417th son of Princess Arminiean. Humility; the Goddesses wanted him to learn _humility_, but it got him nothing. All the people who were so full of arrogance, who had superiority complexes, who looked condescendingly at Lee like he was _less_ than them… They were the ones that Sakura was interested in. She found them attractive, charismatic, _enthralling_.

She wanted that kind of person. Sasuke was just dangerous; a traitor. Naruto was raised to be a walking time-bomb; one day, the right circumstances would throw him into a fit of rage and he would blow up, taking with him everything he could. Terrence was a complete mystery; really, what did Sakura know about the boy who read technical manuals day in and day out? What did _anyone_ know about him except that he was an orphan?

It was awful; Sakura was slowly being sucked into a dangerous world and Lee had to watch her. She would get hurt. He found himself for the first time wondering what she would do when something serious really did hurt her. Lee stormed into a restaurant, irritated at his own thoughts.

Naruto was his friend! Why was he suddenly angry at Naruto? Because Naruto touched Sakura. That was why. He'd disliked Sasuke _before_ that, but now… Lee had a mental image of Sasuke lying in a pool of his own blood.

_What is wrong with me?_ Lee thought and shook himself. He sat down at a table. This wasn't the first time he had murderous thoughts, of course. When he was in the hospital after his near death experience by Gaara in the Chunin Exams, all he could think about was how much he wanted to wash the world with Suni blood. He almost lost the ability to be a shinobi at all. If it weren't for Gai-sensei, Sunagakure wouldn't exist anymore. It would be nothing but a memory, because Lee would've wiped the place from the globe. Anything that missiles didn't explode, the fallout from the explosion would've finished off.

Threading his fingers in his hair in frustration, Lee tried to rid himself of the thoughts. That remote sat on the table in front of him, staring at him. The waitress came over and asked what he would like to eat…would he like a drink… He snapped out his order and then cursed himself for being so rude. Why were the Great Mothers ignoring his plight? Why weren't they offering to help him? Did he not do all they asked?

Someone slid into the seat across his booth. Lee looked up at the woman and actually found himself confused. It took him a moment to realize he knew her as Temari Felwin, elder sister to the Kazekage. She smirked at him, holding a tall glass of alcoholic beverage in one hand.

"Uh, hi?" It was all he could say without sounding harsh.

"Hm…" she looked at her drink and then sipped it. "Been a while since I felt that kind of malicious aura… Since Gaara went flaccid…"

Lee chose to frown thoughtfully. He looked around him, trying to figure out why Temari Felwin of all people would choose to associate with him. He had a history of being looked down upon by _her_ kind. She was like Neji and Sasuke and Shino. She was a noble and she knew it. He was beneath them. But—he was _better_ than them! He just hadn't informed them…

"Something bothering you, kid?" Temari inquired, swirling the contents of her glass around. She appeared slightly intoxicated. His brain calculated the possibility of how bright she would be if she'd had multiple glasses of what she was drinking, figuring out how much alcohol content must be in that glass.

"It is a personal problem," Lee admitted, "but nothing you should worry on. I apologize if I disturbed your dinner." Temari laughed loudly, the sound making Lee feel bitter. "I fail to see the humor in my statements."

Temari shook her head. "So, tell me about it? Did Sakura turn you down for a date or something?" He winced and looked down at the remote in front of him. "Yeah, thought so." She sipped her drink slowly, then put the glass down and licked her lips. "Tell me what happened, friend."

_We're friends, huh?_ Lee wondered. He didn't know when he made friendly with her; they never really mixed ways. Shikamaru was always the one who dealt with the woman when she came as Ambassador. But, figuring it wouldn't make a difference if he told or not, he told her about Sakura. About being turned down. He left out the fact that he felt like killing all the men Sakura knew just so she would have to turn to him. It wasn't like he was going to act on those thoughts… He just hurt.

When he finished, Temari burst into laughter. Lee's frown deepened. "I do not like being laughed at," he said.

"I'm not laughing _at_ you, I'm laughing _with_ you."

"I'm not laughing." He said seriously, eyes narrowing at her. She smiled at him like the devil would at his latest victim. Lee's food came finally, and he looked at his simple glass of water. He shouldn't glare at the woman, when she was being nice to him. When she was letting him talk about Sakura and his love woes. Everyone else told him to shut up when he started on the subject.

Temari sobered up. "You're really hung on her, aren't you?"

"I love her," Lee said, picking at the vegetarian salad. He would love a nice slab of meat at the moment… but he didn't feel like spending the rest of the evening puking it back up.

"Well…" Temari kept smiling like the devil. "If you like… I could help you. Get your girl, I mean."

"I tried the advice thing. It didn't work." Lee spat bitterly. "Sakura wants anyone but me."

"You obviously got the wrong advice," Temari chuckled. "With my help, you could have Sakura eating out of your hand…"

Lee felt his face flame up. The mental image he thought of was highly inappropriate. He and Sakura were at a restaurant and he was feeding her using _his_ chopsticks! "Why do I feel like you want something from me?" he managed to keep his tone even.

"Because," Temari lowered her voice and leaned forward. "I do." He decided he didn't like Temari much, but then thought of what she said. She could help him… Sakura could finally love him… "You look ready to hear me," Temari chuckled.

"I… I'm not agreeing…" But the urge was too strong, and Temari was chuckling like she knew what was coming. "Can… I hear what you'd want?"

She sipped her drink. "Nothing big… I hear you have the EIR Mastery…" Lee narrowed his eyes at her. He wasn't sure he'd like what would come next. Yes, he had the Electronic Information Retrieval Mastery, but he never needed it. That was his realm; before he even started walking with the humans, he could access information without being detected. "Konoha is going electronic, isn't it?"

"…Yes…" he said warily.

"As I said… I don't want anything real big. I just want access."

"Basically, you want me to hack the system for you…" He watched as she carelessly finished her drink and set the glass down. What she suggested would be treason. Traitorous. It was unthinkable… _Sakura… or the city…?_

Temari stood up and threw some money on the table. "Think about it. A little information for a big opportunity. Seems pretty fair to me. I'll give you time to make up your mind… it's a big decision. Let me know what you decide."

She left him sitting there and he stared at his salad. He was actually _thinking_ about it? How could he do that? He hated Sasuke for running off to the enemy, _scorned_ people who betrayed others. And yet, he was thinking about it? A moment more of contemplation and he'd stood up, throwing money on the table. He probably left too much, but he was in a hurry. He rushed out of the restaurant and caught sight of Temari down the street turning a corner.

Racing after her, he called her name. "Felwin!" She turned to look at him and he nearly bowled her over. Coming to a screeching halt, he asked, "What… what will you use this information for?"

Temari smiled like a cat that just caught a mouse and said, "Come with me, my friend…"

_No price too steep to pay… I can make Sakura happy… I will make her happy…_

xXx

The cold desert night was what woke Naruto up, but he was still sore and could have slept at least a decade longer. He rubbed the heel of his palm against his eyes before glancing around him and finding with great disappointment that he hadn't gone much farther than ten feet from the place where he buried the slaver. Ordinarily he knew he wouldn't have been able to see in the darkness of the desert, especially with the moon and stars missing.

He sat up and instantly felt discomforted. _'Kyuubi couldn't give me something useful, like his mind reading thingy… no! He gives me a damn tail! Ass.'_ His thoughts received no response from the fox, so he didn't know whether Kyuubi heard him or not. Naruto got on his feet and pushed down the waist of his pants, pulling the tail free. It was just as uncomfortable to have his pants rubbing against the base of his tail as it was to sit on the thing.

His face crinkling in annoyance, he took off his pants and sliced out a circle from the pant's and boxer's backside. If they ripped and everyone got a view of his cheeks…well, lucky them. They were damn nice cheeks. Getting dressed again properly, he wiggled the tail through the two new holes. It would be better to hide the thing, except he was going to have to come out of the closet about Kyuubi soon anyway. If his friends accepted him or not, Kyuubi was right. This was who he was now, and he needed to accept it.

"Kyuubi?" he called softly. A part of him hoped the fox wouldn't answer. Another part wanted the opposite. His feelings on the fox were becoming confused. He used to hate the fox, and that was it. No questions asked. Now, he wasn't so sure. No matter what he went through, or how hard things were, who was the only one who remained there for Naruto? Lately, Naruto even wondered if Kyuubi might be _proud_ of him.

As usual, Kyuubi put none of Naruto's worries to rest. He didn't exactly make a habit of praising Naruto unless it was over something Naruto didn't feel he deserved it… like the fact that Naruto slept with his teammates. The fox made a habit of mocking Naruto when Naruto felt he most needed comfort.

_'But… I'd miss that…'_ Naruto thought, shocked at the realization. If the fox suddenly stopped picking on him, he would miss it.

"Kyuubi?" he called again into the night.

In return, he received a sleepy grumble. _What the hell do you want, noisy kit? Didn't your mother ever teach you "nap time is quiet time"? Ah, I forgot… you didn't have one._

Naruto ground his teeth. He was wrong. What would there be to miss? "Whose fault is that? You're the one who got her killed." He examined his arm. The wounds the slaver gave him were gone, but Lee's still remained. No wonder he was still sore. He could feel his personal chakra reserves were still too depleted to use, but Kyuubi's chakra was as full as ever.

_I didn't kill her, and neither did I get her killed. She went mad. Her end came with a kunai through her spine and a blow that knocked her into the lake._ Kyuubi sounded thoughtful. _She might've survived the kunai, but not the lake. I heard she sunk like a rock._

Naruto bit his lip as the desire to know more ate at his insides. Kyuubi rarely talked about his last Summoner… about Naruto's mother… When he did on a rare occasion, he had only words of scorn to say. "Kyuu…" Naruto's fingers found his new swishing tail and he pulled the long, fluffy thing around to absently run his fingers through the blond fur. It was so…soft…

_What, kit? I'm trying to nap. Don't you need to be rescuing someone right about now?_

Naruto blushed. He'd forgotten why he was there. "Where is she?" he asked.

_I told you… last I knew of her, she was sinking to the bottom of a lake. She's probably long-since been shit out by the fishes. Cycle of life, and all._

Naruto's blush dispersed, to be replaced with an angry flush. "That's my _mother_ you're talking about!" he hissed. "I meant I don't know where Kagome went!"

_And how should I know where she went or where she is? I'm stuck in a cage under a mountain._

Naruto tried to project a mental glare at the fox, but he had no idea if it worked. If it did, the creature said nothing. "Can't you do that brain thingy?"

_And make your life easy? Hmmph. Let me out and I might _consider_ helping you._

"Fine then! Be an ass, but I'm not ever, ever, ever, ever letting you out! So there!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at the bare desert night, and then sighed. He released the tail and it returned to sway behind him. He could feel the new ears twitching atop his head as he glanced around him, trying to decide which way to go. Without a moon or any stars, he didn't even know what direction he was facing.

Pointing a hand straight out from his body, he began to spin in a circle. "Enie, meanie, minie, mo…" he chanted, "this is where I choose to go…" He stopped and looked in the direction he was pointing. "Well… no sense in sticking around… I have to go _somewhere_. Might as well start in this direction." The only thing that made him feel a bit better was that the slavers would do their best to keep Kagome and whoever that other girl had been unharmed.

He began walking, not running for fear of doing so straight into a cactus. It was something he'd done before; it wasn't something he wanted to do again. Of course, then he hadn't had the great night vision he had now, but it had hurt enough that he wasn't going to chance it.

_'I shouldn't have passed out… I should've done this when it was still light out…'_ Naruto thought with a sigh. His mind wandered back to his mother. He wondered what it would've been like to grow up with one who loved him… with one who tucked him in bed… with one who kissed him good night… with one who held him when he was scared, and wiped away his tears when he was sad. Did his sister know she had a brother? Who was Rin? Where was she?

"Kyuu…?" he called again.

_Noise, noise, noise! Do you ever shut up?_

Naruto lifted his hand to scratch at one itchy fox ear, feeling the thing twitch under his fingertips. "Was… was she very beautiful? My mom…"

Kyuubi sighed indulgently and replied, _Very. She was more beautiful than any human I had ever set my eyes on… before she went mad. Talented, more so than even most shinobi. Other kunoichi were jealous of her beauty and her abilities. She was too kind for her own good; it was a trait that hurt her more often than it helped her. For all her talent, she wasted it. She chose to remove herself from fighting after she passed the Rite of Summoning. She returned to Konoha and her family married her to some old human who died shortly after. She retreated within herself and I thought she was lost to me, until she happened to meet your father. He was the first in years to make her smile, but he also made her laugh, where I, the King's own Fool could not. _

Naruto tried to imagine someone so precious, but he couldn't. He took advantage of Kyuubi's indulgent behavior and asked, "Where did they meet? Were you always there, like some guardian?"

_I needed not always be there. She could call me if she needed, and I would have come… But when she was distraught, I never left her side. I feared she might hurt herself, or be hurt by others… _Naruto found himself hating the idea that his mother might be hurt by someone, like the villagers who hurt Naruto for hosting Kyuubi. _They met in a bakery._ Kyuubi continued._ Your father had a sweet tooth… always had. I expect that is because his father—your grandfather—was a baker. He was always eating whatever he could get his hands on. _

"My dad was… fat? _Yondaime Hokage_ was fat?" Naruto asked incredulously.

_No, not really. He was constantly burning off what he ate by training. But he was a very large human. Six foot five inches tall, with broad shoulders and a wide chest. Just as blond as you, and just as much a klutz._ Kyuubi chuckled although it was slow with the weight of a memory. _I was impressed with him. Even then, when Summoners were common and ones like myself were all over, the humans would always skirt us. Your dad wasn't like that… I still haven't decided if its because he was too stupid to notice I wasn't human, or if he was just that confident in himself._

"What about mom?" Naruto asked. He tried not to let Kyuubi know he was most eager to learn of her. He tried to hide the fact that her existence was more interesting to him than his father. Kyuubi knew anyway. "She was pretty, you said, but how? Did she look like Naruko? Or Honey?" he asked, wondering if his alternate identities might look like his mother. Honey's figure was especially attractive. He made her to be that way.

_She… just was…_ Naruto could picture the fox's yawn in his mind's eye. _She did strange things, too. Taking in odd youths who appeared in the middle of the night… _

Naruto decided not to press too hard for more on his mother at the moment, and switched things up a bit. "Kakashi-sensei trained with my dad, huh?" He could almost feel the fox's approval at the switch in topic. "Was my dad so perverted? Is that why Kakashi-sensei reads porn?"

Kyuubi laughed. _No, kit. Your father did not read it to my knowledge, but like you he thought to make a Sexy Jutsu. He was the funniest man I ever met. No…_ Kyuubi's humor died down. _Your sensei… I don't approve of him. That's it. _

"What do you mean? What's not to approve?" He could almost sense Kyuubi's overly patient sigh. "Well, other than his obvious perversion. He's a great sensei… he taught me teamwork and tree climbing and—" Naruto would've listed more, like the time Kakashi found out Naruto didn't know how to read a compass and showed him, but Kyuubi interrupted.

_The man watches you too closely. I don't like that._

Naruto stopped walking, stunned by Kyuubi's observation… never mind how Kyuubi might know that Kakashi kept a close eye on Naruto… "What do you mean 'watches me too close'? He barely sees beyond his book!"

_That man sees more than you think, kit. I met him long ago. The Hatake, Kakashi you think you know was not always as he is now. Back then, he was quite different. Never late, never smiling, never joking… Serious to a fault. His father killed himself, and his mother died of causes I do not know within a short period of time after. Next, Kakashi made Jounin at too young an age, and shortly after he lost one of his teammates. Everyone watched the boy spiral down in despair as he blamed himself, and he dragged his other teammate with him._

Naruto gulped nervously and glanced around for Kakashi. He was sure the older man would not like Naruto to know this information, but he found he wanted to know more. That was unsurprising. He always wanted to know more about the mysterious man who led them. It was obvious why Kakashi took on Team 7 in the first place: Sasuke and the Sharingan. But it was hard not to grow fond of him at the same time.

"So, what happened? He must've got better…" Naruto began.

Kyuubi huffed. _Keep walking, kit._ He instructed the boy, and Naruto did so. _Your father took young Rin away from Kakashi. Told Kakashi to clean himself up. To stop drinking himself stupid. That's what happened. In my opinion, it was too late. The boy was already lost. But to everyone else during a time when good help was needed to keep the city afloat after a great war, Kakashi appeared to get better. _

"Rin? Like… um, my sister?"

_No, kit. Your sister… we knew her as 'Rini' even though she was named after the young Rin. Kakashi made ANBU rank, and wished to wed his teammate Rin, before she gave birth to the child he gave her in his slump. On their wedding day, just after they said vows of loyalty to one another, young Rin took ill and the baby died… They say that not even a month passed before young Rin walked herself off a cliff. That isn't the official story, of course, but she disappeared near Monty's Rock Gorge and was never found again. A precious few months later, you and your sister were born and your mother went mad. The rest, as you say, is history._

"So… why do I feel like you're leaving out something…really important… to that story?" Naruto asked. It really did feel as though the fox wasn't saying something that Naruto _ought_ to know.

_It's a need-to-know sort of story. When you need to know, you'll find out on your own._ Kyuubi said. _Are we there yet? I'm bored, hungry, and tired. In case you forgot, you have to sustain me lest I wither away in this cage._

"Maybe I'll starve you…" Naruto grumbled irritably, but he reached into a nin-kit and pulled out a travel packet of dried meat. He really hoped he was walking in the right direction… But hey, if he wasn't he could always use a trip back to Konoha's beloved Ichiraku Ramen…

_'That's what I want,'_ Naruto thought. _'I want an Ichiraku Ramen stand in the back yard. And for good measure, just in case I can't make it outside, I'll have to have one in each room of my house.'_ As he walked and chewed the meat, he began mentally plotting out the layout of his dream home. It would be so cool, even Sasuke would be so jealous!

"You didn't really say why you don't like sensei," Naruto pointed out.

_He's emotionally unstable. I keep an eye on things while you sleep, and he watches you constantly when you are around... I am supposedly the reason the last of his precious people are gone. A man like that is a danger to you... I've heard him talking to himself. _

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're paranoid more than Fuyumi-chan and Gaara put together! If talking to himself is somethin' to worry over, I'm probably insane."

"You are, but that's beside the point..." Sasuke's voice penetrated the silence of the night and Naruto blinked at the figures appearing ahead of him.

"Man... I really went the wrong way." He sighed and found himself scratching at a fox ear before remembering they were there. Quickly he covered up the ears, knowing he looked very foolish holding his hands against the top of his head. "Weren't you in North Sands?"

"Hmm..." Sasuke, Itachi, and Kabuto approached Naruto, all of them examining him closely. Sasuke was especially examining him, looking him over with screwed up Sharingan eyes.

"What happened to you?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm?" was all he got in response.

Naruto said, "Your Sharingan is funky... like someone put a four-leaf clover in your eyes... the pupils ain't the same as they were."

"Who cares? Why are you holding your head?" Sasuke demanded.

Itachi demanded, "Where is Kagome, Naruto?" His voice was low and harsh.

Kabuto nudged Itachi's arm gently. "Settle down." Kabuto looked at Sasuke then. "You as well. Let me handle this."

Naruto felt uneasy as the two Uchihas glared at Kabuto and then walked several feet away. Kabuto turned and put a hand on his hip, toying with a deck of cards in his other hand. Naruto recalled Kabuto making a floating platform out of those cards and wondered what else Kabuto could do with them. "Uh... what'd I miss?"

"There's been a suggestion that you're being impersonated." Instantly Naruto's body tensed and he slid into a defensive stance, his eyes narrowing at Kabuto. "From what you showed me, and told me, earlier... I highly doubt you are, but we need to be sure." Kabuto's eyes flicked to the top of Naruto's head where shadows were twitching. It was too dark for them to be seen for sure, much to Naruto's relief, but it wouldn't be long before he was found out...

_'Why do I still hide? I know I can't anymore, not with two slit-pupil eyes!'_ Naruto wondered before clenching his fists. "What do I gotta do?"

"Let me see Kyuubi's seal. Anyone could impersonate a fox eye, or your face. Only you would have the seal." Naruto rolled his eyes and lifted his jacket and shirt hem. Kabuto's hands glowed with green light and then he said, "Good, now bring forth the seal..."

"Well, either I hold my shirt up, or I bring the seal out," Naruto grumbled. "I can't do both. I'm not exactly the son of the gods or anything, although you _know_ you want me."

That time it was Kabuto's turn to roll his eyes. Since Naruto was unwilling to take the clothes off for this stupid test (honestly, who would try to impersonate Naruto of all people?), Kabuto held up Naruto's shirt with one hand and the blond circled his chakra until the seal became visible. Satisfied, Kabuto nodded. Itachi and Sasuke then reapproached.

Bluntly, Sasuke said, "You have _ears_."

"Oh, you noticed," Naruto grumbled. Before he could stop the raven-haired boy, he felt a tug on his backside and yelped. Sasuke was pulling his tail. "OW!"

"You have a _tail_." Sasuke said.

"That hurts, jackass!" Naruto snapped, prying the limb free from gripping fingers. "It's not like I _asked_ for them! They just...sort of happened... Like you, being bottom."

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "You being on top was simply my indulgence."

"Admit it." Naruto gripped one of Sasuke's ears tight in his fingers, dragging the other boy's face close. It was so nice being exactly the same height...finally... "You like being the girl. Because you're gay."

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but Itachi threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay! Enough already! I'm sorry I doubted you, Naruto, but just... don't talk about that..."

For a moment, silence reigned and then Naruto and Sasuke both burst into gales of laughter and had to lean on each other to hold one another up.

* * *

**Thank you everyone! I hope this story continues to entertain you as it has in the past!** jgirl1984, supersillee06 (wow, what a review... Kakashi disappeared... breathe in... breathe out.... oohhhmmm... Chapters 65, 66, and the first two sections of 67 were meant as one chapter, but were split up), moonight600 (I'm not good at fight scenes, so I'll change the genre if that's okay with you... New genre: SuperCuteFluffyNoFightingHappyWorld with a minor genre of "IncrediblyOverexcessiveDrama"... sorry, I try to do fight scenes, but as you can tell they suck), anonymous naruhinafan (You were the only one who guessed who she was! Good job!), Dark Inu Fan (Well, good. I'm glad you like Lee, because killing him off so soon doesn't work for my gloriously planned out death for him later), firestone1836, RoseGlass (WTF? My characters have indepth personalities?! Oh, they are so in trouble), Dark Ravie, _AND TO ANY OTHER REVIEWER! Thanks._

Answer: This chapter had some really incredible reviews that made me need to finish this chapter up and post again. I really hope you like this chapter too.


	68. Mirrored Injuries

Title: Koumajutsu  
Author: TK  
Disclaimer: I'm working on developing clones of all the hot characters, but so far I have had no success. Until then, I make no profit off this.

Chapter 68: Mirrored Injuries

Rin had nearly bit her lip right through as the pleasant looking young medic stitched the deep wound on the new clan leader's left arm. She had been at a restaurant after she left Gai and his father (it did take her several long minutes to convince both men she _did not_ want company to dinner but in the end she won and the two men let her go) when a mysterious phenomena occurred. A gaping injury suddenly split open on her left forearm, almost as though she'd been stabbed through with a knife.

This strange occurrence wasn't entirely unusual to Rin; it happened often enough that she'd built up a high tolerance for pain long ago as a child, and her skin was just tan enough that most bruises were completely invisible on her. The gash wasn't the only injury she had miraculously acquired over dinner, but it was the only reason she was attempting to bear the stone walls of the hospital (although she recognized the fact that she was dangerously close to hyperventilating; after having a taste of freedom, enclosed spaces had begun to make her sick).

She felt like she had just spent a day playing the role of the practice dummy Gai trained on. After over an hour feeling as though invisible hands and feet were submitting torture on her—it had been hard to grin and bear it when the wind was suddenly knocked out of her, and then there was the nasty hit to her face that resulted in a dark purple bruise around her eye—her invisible assailant had stabbed her arm. Rin knew then that she had to go to the hospital and get the injury taken care of by the medics.

Thus, she ended up in the care of the cute young man before her. It wasn't the pain of her injuries that caused her to bite her lip, nor was it the needle. It was the enclosed space and the fact that she couldn't go anywhere until he released her arm.

"Almost done, Miss," he smiled at her, wiping away excess blood and bandaging her arm. "Sorry I can't do better than stitches, but there's a new law stating we can't use chakra to heal unless the injury is life-threatening. Too many medics have been passing out after using too much chakra on their hospital shifts."

"That's alright," Rin assured him and looked at his hand as it lingered a bit longer than necessary on her arm. She met his eyes as his hand moved from her arm to her hand, holding her hand lightly as he helped her down from the exam bed. He was quite cute…

…And he appeared to want to say something to her…

Rin's mind whirred with thoughts. The young man was blushing… Neji blushed and then took off, thinking Rin was ugly no doubt. Stupid Neji! Rin decided to just throw the question out there. "Why are you blushing, Medic…" she glanced at his nametag and then finished, "Aisoku?" What a suitable name…

Aisoku gulped and turned pinker still, brushing his dark grass green hair from his face. "Ah… I…" he looked away from Rin, closed his eyes, and then turned his midnight eyes on her with a look of determination in them. "I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me?"

Rin blinked. That was…unexpected… But she did know the concept of what he was asking. She had read enough romance novels (or probably ALL of the ones that were sold in stores and Kakashi had sent to her in prison…) to know this boy was attracted to her. She felt a smirk cross her features and slid closer to him, looking up at him with wide, 'innocent' brown eyes—those Kitsunes had no idea what they unleashed simply by raising her as their own—and she slid her hand up his arm and brought it to rest on his chest.

His breathing hitched, making her want to laugh. "I've already had dinner," she whispered.

"M-maybe… dessert? I-I know a nice little parlor…" He offered, and she couldn't tell anymore if he was pink because he was embarrassed or simply not breathing.

"Hmm," she murmured, and watched him slowly dip toward her as if in a trance. She burst his trance, saying coyly, "You're my doctor…" she recalled one romance novel where the characters were a doctor and a patient, and the love was considered "forbidden". "Wouldn't want to have anyone questioning motives," she said, forcing back a laugh at the young man's dismayed features. "Besides. You don't even know my name."

He flushed bright red this time. "Opportunities are meant to be seized. Details are meant to be sorted out later…" Oh, even his ears turned red now… "At least, my father tells me this."

Rin grinned. "Your father sounds like a smart man… or a very stupid one." Determined to find out, Rin asked, "Why would you see an opportunity with me? Here I am getting stitches and with a black eye. I must not be too attractive at the moment."

Aisoku glanced around the small, enclosed room as if his superiors might suddenly pop out and demand what he did wrong, and then looked back at Rin with a soft look on his face. His hands came up to rest gently on her shoulders and then, one of those hands moved to her chin, tilting her face up. Rin blinked as he slowly closed down on her and his lips pressed gently against her black eye. She felt a cool rush spread out from his lips and knew he was using chakra to heal it.

He really liked her, didn't he? Rin smiled mischievously. Ha! She knew she was attractive, just as Riba and the others had always assured her. Giggling, she pushed lightly on the boy's chest and he blushed brightly and backed away.

"As wonderfully illegal as we both know what you just did was, what with that new law you previously mentioned," his face grew solemn and he was bracing himself for rejection, "you're still my doctor right now."

He nodded and said, "T-the nurse will be back shortly to go through the forms with you…" She watched as he fled, and knew he wasn't fleeing from her because he thought her ugly. Unlike Neji. God, the very thought of the pale man had her fuming. How could he be so rude?

As Aisoku had said the nurse did come and go through forms but Rin would have none of that. She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out the tiny little money wallet Min made Rin carry around. "Look, the medic told me stitches are standard. I will not fill out some form so you can have information on me laying about. So, here."

The nurse stammered, "But Miss… we have to keep records… names of who comes to the hospital, what they were here for…"

"Not mine. As far as you're concerned, _miss_," Rin barely kept herself from sneering in disdain at the simpering human, "I don't exist." Rin set down the money. Getting Aisoku to tell her what stitches would cost was what she did before she even let him come near her with a needle. Since she had enough, she let him do his job.

"But," the woman objected again.

"No," Rin gave in and hissed the word.

"I will have to inform the board," the woman said nervously.

Rin grinned widely, feeling the challenge and welcoming it. The woman backed away from her as if fearing her a wild animal. Maybe she was… "Run along to the kage and the elders, for all I care. What are they going to do to me? Lock me up?" Rin snorted and stepped around the woman, placing her hand on the doorknob. "I'd like to see them try!" she grinned and the woman gulped.

Rin left her there and exited the hospital. She was halfway down the street when she bumped into none other than Aisoku. Blinking in confusion, she watched as the young man laughed nervously.

"Um, hi… So… I'm not a medic anymore… can I take you for dessert?"

Rin felt exasperation cross her, but also was embarrassingly pleased at the young man. "What did you do, quit?"

"Well, no, actually I can't do that… I'm a shinobi, not one of the normal doctors or nurses, so I can't exactly quit my job. And I'm sort of still a medic…" He held up a packet of papers, "But I _did_ get the transfer paperwork to take on a genin team… I told you, I'm an opportunist! In two weeks or so, I can find out if I've been selected!" He beamed so brightly at her she couldn't be bothered to refuse.

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around one of his and tugged him toward the open, darkened road. "Well, this better be one very tasty dessert, or you'll be dealing with a whatever team for no reason."

He chuckled. "Well, now I know something." He said as they walked.

"Oh?" she inquired. "And what's that?"

"You must be a civilian."

"Or something," Rin agreed cheerily, and then inquire, "So what's this 'genin' team?" She knew little to nothing about the whole 'shinobi' business. She never thought to ask anyone about it, so mostly all she knew was that Naruto was a shinobi and dreamed of being Hokage, and that the Hokage had to be an active duty shinobi.

Aisoku looked very pleased to oblige her question. "It's a rank. Gakkyuu, Genin, Chunin, Jounin, ANBU, Kage, S-Class. Those are the ranking, from lowest to highest. Then you have various types of shinobi, such as Special-Jounin who specializes in one particular area of abilities, or the Jounin-sensei who has a more rounded area of expertise." He blushed, "But I don't want to bore you."

She shook her head and scraped her nails gently on his long sleeve. "No, I should learn this stuff anyway. What's a Gakkyuu?"

"It's the academy student. Graduates from the academy are 'Genin'. Jounin-sensei take on a team of three Genin and teach them and take them on missions, preparing the Genin for the Chunin Exams." Aisoku tugged her down a side street and they emerged on a bustling road, very active for being at night. "Here we are!" he beamed at the building before them and Rin hardly had a chance to see the outside before they were inside.

"This is Shen Parlor!" he chirped and led her to a booth at the back. "Located in the most beautiful sub-division in the world! _Shentopia!_" Rin laughed at his excitement, and simultaneously wondered of this green-haired boy's sanity. This wasn't a dessert parlor, was it? If so, why were so many drunks about? "And I know what you're thinking," Aisoku agreed solemnly. "'How dumb is he, taking me to a bar?' Am I right?" Rin only blinked and slid into the booth. "Well, I'm only half dumb," he told her, "because this really is the best place to get dessert. And the Shen family have always been fond of their alcohol and sweets."

"It's your loss if I don't like the dessert," Rin teased him with a grin. "And… you can order mine."

"Then I am sure to pick what you like," he said with certainty before paling. "Or… fail miserably." He blushed. "No, I am going to pick what you like, because failing isn't an option." His words were nearly lost under the din of the strange tavern. But he grabbed a small menu from the end of the booth and surveyed it with pursed lips.

Rin scratched at the irritated flesh of her arm as she watched the boy. She was amused that he still didn't know her name, and he hardly seemed to realize it. "So, Ai_so_ku," she said, pronouncing his name slow on purpose and watching as his face flamed up as a result. "Do we order, or do we eat the paper?"

"Uh, do you like coffee?" he asked.

She grinned at the seemingly off-the-wall question. "My, my, wait too long and we may as well have breakfast." She told him.

They were approached within moments by a busty older woman who blinked at Rin before her eyes turned quite hard. Then, the look disappeared and was replaced with friendliness, but the first look had been there enough to cast the woman in favor with Rin's _I-don't-like-you_ list, which grew by the day. Mariemi, this nameless woman…

"Well, Aisoku, what'll it be?" the woman asked. "Are ya actually going to drink tonight, or just lurk over here in the anti-social corner eating sweets?"

Aisoku beamed up at her. "I don't _lurk_. How was your recent mission in Suna?"

"I'm still pissin' out sand, that's how!" the woman huffed. "Some brat even had the balls to bite me in the street, so I slapped her _and_ her brother about a bit. Those freaks are so weak, let me tell you. And you better not start going soft, either." She shifted her hips and flipped long, similarly green hair over her shoulder.

"Oh, no worries, Magma. I wouldn't dream of it! Besides, Fuyumi-chan would beat me up if I did."

The woman, presumably named Magma, said, "That's my boy. Smart. Anyway, what'll you have?"

Aisoku started sweating a bit as if put on the spot and then decided firmly, "I'll have one of everything." He nodded as Magma snorted and stalked off, her hips swaying dangerously. Rin sent a questioning glance at Aisoku. He said, "That's my cousin. She thinks I'm going to soften up."

"Oh?" Rin frowned, "And why's that? Your chakra seemed to have a very strong effect on my eye. The bruise doesn't even hurt."

"Well, that's because it isn't there, silly," he chuckled at her. "Anyway, there's this thing that's happening to the clans now that the Uzumaki heir is taking the seat." Rin bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. She knew exactly what he was going to say. And he apparently had no idea who she was! That was priceless. "In the agreement with the heir, we—as fellow clans—agreed to offer protection for the heir from the Elder Council's retaliation. Everyone knows the Elder Council's opinion on the Uzumakis."

Intrigued, although certain she also knew, she leaned forward and inquired, "So, what is it?"

Aisoku stuck his head out of the booth and looked around in a very suspicious manner as though making sure no one was listening in. "We can't talk about it, because its against the law," he began but then plunged in anyway, "but there's a guy, Naruto Uzumaki, he's the jinchuuriki for Kyuubi no Kitsune. Because of that, and other reasons, there are a lot of people who hate him. Especially the Elder Council. I heard they once tried to kill him, but some guy appeared and said if he died, the Kyuubi no Kitsune would be free."

Blinking at Aisoku, and jumping on the opportunity to find out this boy's feelings on her brother since he would be one of her clansmen obviously enough, she asked, "What about you? What do you think of this boy?"

Again Aisoku glanced around, looking more suspicious than ever, and turned back to lean ever closer still. "We met a while back. Me and Naruto. About two years ago, I went to the Sneak-Thief Mastery School to obtain a mastery credit there. Basically when you go there, you learn things like forgery, lock-picking, secret identities, and not to mention you master the nightingale floor…" Aisoku shot backward in his seat and blushed, saying a bit loudly, "Uh, Magma! H-Hi, how are you?"

Magma approached with a very large tray and began setting dessert dish after dessert dish on the table. She rolled her eyes at Aisoku. "These three have alcohol in the mix, and this one's glaze is basically just sweet wine."

Aisoku blushed furiously. "You didn't tell me that!"

"Hey, you said 'Just give me one of everything'! And I did!" She slapped Aisoku on the backside of the head which earned her a pout. "Get yourself together, brat. And _try_ not to act so suspicious! This is a classy place! Slinky little stalkers like you don't belong here!"

Aisoku stuck his tongue out at his cousin. "Yeah? Well, I bet you deserved to be bit by whoever the kid in Suna was that bit you! So there!"

Magma pulled out a menacing kunai. "What?" she demanded. Aisoku determinedly repeated himself. Magma added threateningly while twisting the kunai on her finger, "This little frock is just a uniform, ya little bastard. I'll as soon slice you into ribbons."

Aisoku stood up from the booth and gripped Magma's wrist. No one paid them any mind as Aisoku twisted the blade out of her grip, so Rin wondered if this was a normal occurrence. Aisoku's face was smiling and pleasant as he caused the older woman minor injury, though to her credit, she appeared unbothered.

"Magma, cousin, you're being a witch. It's upsetting." He released her wrist and she backed off quickly. Scowling at him she left, and Aisoku pushed the alcohol-containing sweets to the edge of the table. "Don't eat those ones. But," he beamed at Rin, "see if any of these are the best you ever had!"

Rin looked at the delicious looking sweets and pulled one toward her. Each plate had its own fork, though she wasn't sure why. Probably so the flavor of one sweet didn't mix with another? What silliness. She speared up a bit of cake and slowly took it into her mouth, forcing herself not to grin or smirk as Aisoku watched her and blushed.

When she had swallowed, she carefully licked her lips and asked the boy, "So, you were saying?"

Aisoku nodded, "Ah, right…" Looking around, he leaned forward again, making a dramatic show of lining all the plates up in front of her. "Well, when I was at the ST Mastery School, that's ST for Sneak-Thief, I met Naruto. He was amazing! He made this incredible jutsu for disguises, and it seriously had no flaws. It wasn't an illusion, either. It was real!"

That sounded very much like Rin's only technique, where she turned herself into a child's body, something she had maintained for nearly eight years to keep up the illusion of being a demon child so to hopefully ensure her safety. No one wanted to anger a demon, right? And it worked, mostly.

Aisoku breathed in what was clearly amazement. "I swear, that guy was _born_ to get the ST mastery credits. He got both; female and the male credit, and he did it with the highest scores. Everyone tells you 'Don't associate with Naruto Uzumaki'. But I am so glad I met him. He's funny, smart, a bit conceited, and probably bisexual, but he's definitely a very good friend. He helped me learn to pick locks… although chaining me to a bed was an odd way to do it… Still…" Aisoku then paused and looked at Rin. "Although you should never meet him." He said abruptly.

At first, Rin got angry at those words. Who was he to tell her not to meet her own brother? Then she decided to ask, "Why?"

Aisoku said, "Because he's too awesome, and you would fall in love with him, and I would stand no chance to win your heart. I'm an opportunist. Therefore, if opportunities that do not benefit me appear, I need to quash them."

Rin tried to contain her laughter. Really, she did, but Aisoku was too cute. "Alright, well," she said when she managed to regain control on herself. "You don't have to worry about me then. The dessert was alright."

Aisoku merely placed the second one in front of her, beaming at her. "Just alright? Try this one. It'll be the best you ever had."

"I thought the last one was supposed to be," Rin reasoned, grinning all the same. The last had been quite good.

"Well, I don't want to take on a Genin team for no reason, so I have six more chances to get you to moan in pure bliss over a sweet." Aisoku told her. Then, thoughtfully, "Although, moaning brings something else to mind…" He blushed and said, "But I'm certainly not thinking of it!"

Rin giggled. "Oh, but you are…" she took a bite slowly and purposefully let out a tiny moan, which he heard and turned bright red.

But, he was indeed an opportunist, and instantly asked, "So, would you like to have breakfast tomorrow?"

* * *

**I love you all... tear...** RoseGlass (Sakura is or is not pregnant...does that help answer your question?), nightshadow04 (but I thought Kakashi in a previous chapter his only reason for taking on team 7 was because of Naruto...), kat, jgirl1984 (well, Itachi needed a weakness, and I had no better ideas...), DarkRavie, Arcander (I specifically added that part extra, typed it right into the edit document portion, so I could wrap in the insult...) AND ALL OTHERS! Thanks!

Answer: Short, but important.


	69. Apologies

Title: Koumajutsu  
Author: TK  
Disclaimer: I wouldn't be working minimum wage if I owned this...

NOTE: Its terribly short and perhaps not the best, but that's cuz I'm struggling with writer's block. Any motivation you can give me to keep going on all my stories would be greatly appreciated, but not required. It'll just take longer to get chapters out. Thanks for reading and supporting me!

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Chapter 69: Apologies

He could hear the sounds she made in the other room as she wept yet again. The sound of her cries killed him, but he knew of no way to silence them. His overweight footsteps creaked on the floor as he shifted, removing his shoes to place them by the door. He had stopped coming to this house after she stopped talking. Being close to one another seemed to only cause them pain, and he hated that.

But he had to be there. Now. For her. For him. For them. And for what could have been in a dream.

Being silent was out of the question as he crossed the floor. He was too out of shape. It was incredible what two years had done to him, but he wasn't surprised. His father had been overweight, and he had always struggled to keep himself fit. Now, he no longer cared. Everything he loved was gone or hated him, including the one person he had left everything else behind for…

Even the door creaked on its hinges, emitting a high pitched shriek that was painful to hear. She barely registered the noise. Her face was hidden behind a veil of long hair the color of the purest white snow… she had always hated long hair… She sat beside the window, though the shade was drawn down. It wouldn't matter either way, since those hidden milky white eyes would never see again…

He watched her cry for several minutes, her small hands curled around a picture frame he knew was never far from her. She had become terribly thin; she had always been a small, petite woman, but never this bad. For someone who couldn't walk, she shouldn't be so tiny…

His eyes darted to the woman who sat on the floor no more than four feet away. The woman's eyes softened and she got to her feet, approaching the crying woman… his wife… His everything; everything he had already lost…

Somewhere along the line, he had lost fifteen years. He'd gone to visit his brother… on the way home, he fell asleep. When he woke again, he continued to come home to the only precious thing he still had… but she didn't want him. Not then… not now… not ever…

His eyes fell on the bed, where a young boy of barely five years lay curled up on his side, sleeping with his thumb stuck in his mouth. The boy's pale cheeks were stained red from crying, just as his mother's appeared to be permanently stained.

After a brief whisper to the woman in the chair, the brunette walked toward him and said quietly, "You have five minutes… then you need to go…"

He could barely register the nod of his own head. "Thank you…" She left him, closing the door noiselessly.

The woman's cries ceased, and her head lifted up. Those milky eyes turned on him, not seeing him but knowing where he was anyway. The picture frame was brought up to her chest and hugged. She said nothing, her lips merely turned down in an unhappy frown.

He had once been the only being to be able to pull her out of depression. He couldn't be that anymore… she didn't want him to be that… He had tried. And failed. Walking forward, he knelt before her and whispered, "I… I'm so… I'm so sorry…" His voice cracked and broke, and he wept.

For the first time in fifteen years… she spoke. "You aren't my love…" Her voice was as broken as his, from crying and not using it. "Find him for me…?"

Silence resumed, but for his own sobs.

Find him? He was gone…

He felt a light tap on his shoulder and new better than to resist the return of the brunette. He had to go now… He stood, following her to the front door. He brushed his pudgy had across his fat cheek and then slid his feet into the shoes.

The look on the woman's face said, "Why did you come?" but she didn't ask.

Biting his lip, he turned bright blue eyes on her. "You look well, Rin…"

"You look like you could stand to lose some weight," she said. "Do yourself a favor, and meet Konoha's ambassador. He helped me; he can help you."

Shaking his head, he turned out the door with a heavy heart. "Help won't make a difference…" he said slowly and began walking.

"Not when you have an attitude like that," he heard her cluck.

xXx

"So, basically you're an idiot," Sasuke said with an eyebrow lifting his expression into one of great annoyance.

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the other boy. "I'm not an idiot." Sasuke's hand darted out and pinched Naruto's nostrils together, throwing the boy off balance. "Ow!" Naruto cried, finding it unpleasant to land on his new tailbone.

"You don't appear very bright," Kabuto said easily as he pushed his glasses up his nose. His face was lit up rather eerily by the glowing orb of pure red chakra in Itachi's palm.

Naruto got to his feet and glared at the jerks before him, wishing he hadn't answered the questions they asked. They wanted to know what parts of his body Kyuubi had affected. Naruto had responded immediately without thinking and apparently he was supposed to have followed his heightened nasal senses to Kagome.

_'Well, excuse me for not being some sort of baby bright!'_ Naruto thought.

_You mean child prodigy?_ Kyuubi offered, chuckling.

Naruto felt his eye twitch in annoyance as he stood and brushed himself off. His hands found his tail and he caressed it briefly, trying to sooth the aching. "Shut it," he muttered to the fox. "Next person t' comment on my greatness is gettin' a Rasengan t' the face!"

Itachi snorted.

Kabuto chuckled. "Give it your best shot."

Angered at their derision, Naruto's hands immediately shot together to form the Kage Bunshin seal. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hands and pulled them apart. Sasuke blinked, and his strange, new Sharingan appeared like a black four-leaf clover inside red pupils. His lips twisted into a challenging smirk. "You. Are. A. Moron."

Naruto tackled his best friend but before a big fight could ensue, they were separated.

Itachi droned, "Enough, both of you. Naruto, if you wish to redeem yourself without finding something very sharp sliding down your esophagus to tango with your kidneys, I recommend you pick up Kagome's trail. _Now_."

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THANKS GUYS! Dark Inu Fan (Didn't you read it? Aisoku and Naruto are friends... surely that grants a little immunity to the guy... wait... Naruto is unconventional...), nightshadow04 (wahahaha, I love Rin...she's a great one to write...), kat (cloning successful... a little too successful... Itachi tried to mass murder people...), Natsumi tsuchi-Ookami (Aisoku is a great one; I didn't mean for him to peg Naruto as bisexual, but as I reread it, I noticed the line there and laughed), Arcander (you guessed it... imagine if Naruto found out what Magma did...), RoseGlass (it's okay... everyone wants to know that Sakura...blah blah blah... hehe...), DarkRavie, jgirl1984 (I am planning a stunning reunion... please work for me, story... do what I want you to...) AND TO ALL OTHER REVIEWERS!

Answer: Working through writers block. Please motivate me!


	70. Going Insane

_Komajutsu  
Tsubasa Kya  
I donn't own anything of the sort, but I've got this lovely new iPod!_

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Chapter 70: Going Insane

_The laughter of a child…_

There was nothing in this place… Nothing but darkness and solitude.

_He he he…_

Granted, he should be used to that by now… He didn't often make noise himself, so what was he expecting? The walls wouldn't talk to him. He ought to be suspicious if they started to.

_Play with me…_

They were nice walls, of course… Very nice, sparkling like diamonds were embedded in them, reflecting the light shining in a hole high above. The beauty of it left him staring for hours on end.

_Look what I can do…_

Or perhaps not hours… he didn't know how long he had been stuck in this prison. Placed here by a creature that had been alive and yet dead, decomposing right in front of him but talking and walking. The sheer irony that he had been defeated by something that had no right to be a match for him was like a punch to the gut.

_Can I have a candy…_

What would Temari say to him… If she knew he had been trapped by nothing more than a dead ANBU that liked to call itself the Archangel, she would be furious. She would be angry that he allowed himself to get caught. She would be mad that he had let down his guard.

_Daddy Gaara…_

The water was also very pretty… He had never seen water so still, so smooth that he could see the moon reflecting off it like he was staring at it. He had always loved looking at the watering hole. He used to go there in his limited free time just to stare at the water.

_Why do you wear those stuffy robes…_

Kankuro would laugh at him… Kankuro always laughed at him these days. He never used to. He used to be afraid of him. Kankuro was still afraid of him, but not as much. Now he talked all the time, where he used to make himself disappear whenever he was nearby.

_How come someone wrote on your head…_

Exhaustion seeped in his bones… Did he even have bones anymore? He couldn't really tell. They were probably shattered from all his failed attempts to climb the walls to reach that hole at the top of the cave.

_My candy is green like your eyes…_

Kagome hated when he hurt himself… She hated when anyone got hurt. She was the type of person who would jump in front of an arrow and die, as long as it meant saving someone else.

_I don't have red hair like you and Terry…_

He couldn't handle being hurt very well… Shukaku would always take over his body when he was injured. He didn't like when she did that. She always killed, and killed, and killed, until there was little left to die.

_I want pretty purple eyes like Nana's friend…_

Shukaku liked to talk a lot… She would always have something to say. He was so used to her constant chatter he was almost afraid now that she was missing. Where was his demon?

_I'm gonna be the best Kazekage ever…_

The silence was enormous… His life had always had some kind of noise in it. Screaming. Begging. Laughing. Taunting.

_Nana says magic makes it so people can laugh…_

"Hah…"

_Gaia isn't safe to touch…_

There was always someone around willing to make noise… whether or not he had to make them. Nothing was ever so silent.

_Gaia is the life of the earth…_

"Hah…haah…"

_I don't know how I know…_

He was a recluse… He enjoyed his solitude. He loved being alone. He rarely got that time to himself. Or so he had always thought.

_If you touch Gaia too much it will kill you…_

"Haahaahaa…"

_Terry made me promise not to talk about Gaia…_

He had tried to swim down… When he couldn't go up, he tried to swim down. He always had to surface or run out of air. Even the water made no noise. No splash. Sound didn't exist.

_If you only touch it a little it will make you sick…_

"Haahaaahaaaah…"

_It's like gooey water…_

He missed his precious people… He wanted his few friends. He wanted his crazy family. And though he couldn't understand where the need came from, he wanted Shukaku back.

_People get chakra poisoning from it…_

"Hahahahahahahahaaaa…"

Shukaku had always been there for him… Through thick and thin, she was always there. She loved him. She had said as much, many times in the recent days, or was it years? He should not care for her, after all that she had done to him. He couldn't sleep because he was too afraid she would possess him. He shouldn't miss her.

_I don't know where Gaia is…_

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

_Orange is the best color in the world…_

And Vvim… somehow, even more than the others, his desire to see the little girl was overbearing. She had wormed her way into his cold heart, and she should not have been allowed access in the first place.

_Nana doesn't make me eat apple peels…_

"Heeheeheehee…oh fuck! I have to get out…"

_Will you carry me…_

Was this what drew him to them…? These people with outgoing personalities he'd been surrounded by, was the reason he had them around simply to keep the world devoid of silence? To keep away the quiet that took over? Did he surround himself with them to keep away from the fact that he was always alone?

_I'm sleepy…_

"Me too…" Gaara moaned, rubbing his eyes attempting to will an exit to appear in front of him. "What is Gaia?"

_Gaia is the life of the earth…_

"Tell me about Gaia, Vvim… I'll find us a way out."

_Terry made me promise not to talk about Gaia…_

"Why would he tell you not to?"

_Gaia isn't safe to touch…_

"What happens if you touch it?"

_If you only touch it a little it will make you sick…_

"What if you touch it a lot?"

_If you touch Gaia too much it will kill you…_

"How does it kill you?"

_People get chakra poisoning from it…_

"How do you know?"

_I don't know how I know…_

"Where is Gaia?"

_I don't know where Gaia is…_

"What is Gaia like then?"

_It's like gooey water…_

_"_Where did you hear about Gaia to begin with?"

_Terry says we're special…_

"Special?"

_We just know…_

"Special…"

He was never going to be alone again… this manner of recalling past conversations with a two-year-old was becoming quite bothersome.

xXx

Naruto had to give the dogs a lot of credit after finding out just how hard it was to follow someone by scent alone. He didn't really have much to work off of, considering he was in a vast desert and was nowhere _near_ his original starting point—or Kagome's, for that matter. Plus he didn't exactly have any smell to go off of just to know what she smelled like…

And stupid Itachi wanted results… _demanded_ results… **now**… He couldn't provide those results when there were no results to provide! How come the creepy, mass-murderer, wonder-boy couldn't find Kagome? Why was he so reliant on Naruto?

For that matter, there was also Sasuke, _another_ Uchiha Wonder-Boy—who for someone who used to hate his older brother so much, he bore a **strikingly** similar personality to him… And then there was Kabuto, yet another _genius_ traitor. For a bunch of child prodigies, the best idea they could come up with was to rely on Naruto's nose? Make him do it? Was this how they obtained their brilliant reputations?

Not wanting to be a disappointment, however, Naruto didn't point out the fact (that should by all rights be _blatantly_ obvious) that he couldn't follow a scent that way. Did they not know a simple breeze would cause the desert to pick up and move? Even Kiba and Akamaru would have trouble following the scent. Or Kakashi and his nin-dogs.

Wasn't the Sharingan supposed to be some super-powerful asset? Shouldn't they be using that? No… they wanted to use the demonic nostrils Naruto had attained. He wanted to pretend he was normal, but they wouldn't let him.

Naruto thought for a moment about that… Could the Sharingan find people? It could see chakra, right? So they should easily find Kagome with that… Unless she was too far away or something… But still! Three of them traitorous bastards, and all they had was, "Naruto, I will play with your intestines if you don't find Kagome."

And speaking of the Sharingan super powers, what the hell was up with Sasuke's eyes? Itachi's Sharingan was supposed to be some crazy advanced version that was only possible to achieve if you were super insane (which Itachi pulled off fantastically) and Kakashi's Sharingan was… whatever. Naruto didn't remember where Kakashi got it from 'cause Kakashi wasn't an Uchiha. Maybe he'd been told once, but he couldn't be expected to remember! He had enough shit on his mind…

Like Kagome! Truly he had no clue how to find her. As best as he'd managed to do was run them around the desert for four hours, sniffing at this or that or whatever, and it was pissing him off.

Finally as the sun rose up in the sky, Naruto gave up leading them around and leaned up against a close by giant rock protruding from the sand like it knew what for. "I can't find her," he said at last.

Itachi opened his mouth, probably to spit out some death threat to Naruto (did the guy not know how to say 'pretty please with a cherry on top'?) when Sasuke pointed to the sand beneath Naruto' feet. "This place…" Sasuke started.

Naruto blinked at his friend, and then heard Kyuubi say, _What a nice nap… I think I want another…_

Naruto chose to ignore the fox so he could listen to Kabuto as he said, "What, Sasuke?"

"I don't know… The veins of the earth's chakra… there are none here…"

"What the fuck happened to your Sharingan?" Naruto demanded for the umpteenth time, and was ignored again. The Sharingan wasn't like that this morning! Or, more accurately, yesterday morning… Night had already gone away. Apparently no one wanted to inform him that Sasuke was potentially insane…because that seemed to be how to get a special Sharingan… Hey, it worked for Itachi, didn't it?

_Naruto, down._ Kyuubi said. _Now._

Naruto didn't hesitate and took Kyuubi's advice, squatting down on all fours. He felt the brush of a blade scrape against one of his new ears and yelped. Turning his two-colored eyes on the attacker, he scowled, teeth showing. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Itachi and Kabuto looking quite casual about the fact that they'd happened upon a slaver out alone in the desert—although, he might have been left behind for the others to catch Kagome, just in case Naruto defeated the last.

Sasuke, on the other hand, looked a bit like a psychopath as he turned his eyes on the slaver. It wasn't as much his expression, because that was similar to Itachi's—careless and casual—but those eyes really unnerved Naruto. It was like he had four pupils shaped like the leaves of a four leaf clover, and they spun in a lazy, pinwheel formation inside red irises.

The slaver smirked, "This one must really be worth it," his eyes fell on Sasuke, "if _you're_ after her…"

Naruto felt surprise course his veins that the slaver recognized Sasuke—or appeared to. That, of course, helped him remember that he knew so little of his friend these days. The last three years were a mystery.

Sasuke shrugged, "Perhaps…" he said vaguely.

Itachi said, "A touching reunion, I'm sure… Where is she?" Not one to really beat around the bush, Itachi was straight to the point.

The slaver shrugged, grinning. "Ah… three pests and their pet won't make much difference. She'll be sold anyway, and we'll make a mint."

Naruto was angered by the man's comment. "Hey! You! Who you callin' a pet?" His ears twitched furiously and his tail swished in annoyance. He couldn't keep them still. It was like they had a mind of their own.

"You." The slaver said evenly.

Naruto sneered at the man, "I ain't takin' this!" He charged to attack, but instead was caught by Sasuke, who wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist, holding him back rather half-assed. It was clear to Naruto that Sasuke did most certainly _not_ care for the degrading remarks made by the slaver, or else he would have held Naruto much more securely.

"Naruto, be still," Sasuke hissed in his ear. Before his older brother could say anything, Sasuke spoke in a soft and deadly voice, "I am not a very patient man, Barda. Where is the girl?"

Naruto disliked the tone Sasuke used on him, but his mind felt oddly at ease knowing Sasuke was about to take care of things. It was worrisome that Sasuke knew a slave driver by name, but at the same time, Sasuke didn't appear to _like_ the guy either.

The bald man, Barda, didn't seem as if he'd be much of a challenge to anyone. But then, the last guy's appearance had been deceiving as well…

Naruto could _feel_ as his chakra flow reversed inside his body. The feeling was familiar, and made him a bit light-headed. He cursed internally. Of course it would happen _now_ with everything else happening…

He didn't have a chance to hear what Sasuke said to the man, because he was trying to focus internally at his chakra. It took a lot of concentration, which he didn't exactly have after being awake for so long, a deadly match up between himself and a slaver, and then traipsing through a damned-to-hell desert for hours. Still, he managed to get his chakra moving normally again…

xXx

"How much longer, Aoife?" Kagome asked, knowing she was complaining but by that point, not really _caring_ anymore. She was starving and stuck down in some underground ancient city that, quite frankly, shouldn't exist. Aoife barely noticed the passage of time, but Kagome felt like time was _dragging_.

"Almost done…" Aoife insisted.

"You said that a billion years ago," Kagome muttered. She really wanted to get out of this place. She kept hearing noises, and it was starting to freak her out. At first, the noises started out like creepy, crawling bug noises. Kagome _hated_ bugs with a ferocious passion. She didn't just _loathe_ them, but she feared them unlike anything else. Throw her in a pit of lions, or off a cliff, and she'd care less than if someone threw a centipede at her. There would be hell to pay if someone did that… after she finished screaming in terror…

She really couldn't stand bugs…

"Almost there…" Aoife said.

Kagome groaned. And after she started hearing the bugs skittering around, she heard this strange grating echo… like an explosion… and then the bug noises got worse… Oh, she just couldn't take much more of this… she was almost at the point where she wanted to just turn herself into the slavers.

xXx

"Naruto's genius plan number eighty five," Sasuke grumbled as he helped his best friend drag out of beneath strange rubble. Did his best friend have to be so…exuberantly stupid? Apparently… He could only begin to wonder what kind of massive technique Naruto had just pulled off.

"That was way cool," Naruto mumbled, whimpering as Sasuke bumped his right arm. Sasuke helped Naruto sit down and peeled the boy's jacket off. "Owie…" Naruto whined in a high-pitched voice. The arm of his jacket was covered in blood, and Sasuke quickly found out why. Naruto had broken his arm in not just one place… not two places… but _three_ places. And the brilliant blond had managed to get it so that his bones were sticking out in _three_ places.

"Who cares if you break every bone in your body and can't move for weeks…" Sasuke grumbled, "So long as you look cool while you do it, right?"

Naruto grinned and then winced as Sasuke touched his arm. "Owie…" he cried, tears streaming down his face.

Sasuke thought back just barely a few minutes and tried to come up with an explanation as to what the hell just happened, but he honestly couldn't. He'd been incredibly surprised to see Barda, one of Orochimaru's slave drivers, and even more surprised when Itachi and Kabuto both kept quiet and let him handle Barda's questioning.

Of course, Barda was easy to handle. Scare him a bit and he'd spill his deepest, darkest fears to the world. It was Naruto's abrupt action that unnerved Sasuke. One minute the boy was quiet, and the next he'd shoved away from Sasuke and started forming foreign hand symbols.

Sasuke's vision had gone white for several minutes, and then he heard a cry of, "Blazing Comet!" It had been Naruto's voice; but why? He had no idea what Naruto even did, much less what the reason behind it was… He just ended up falling, and now Barda, Itachi and Kabuto were gone. Beneath the rubble, perhaps? Good riddance, Sasuke figured…

"What did you do, Naruto?" Sasuke demanded.

"Had'ta," Naruto told him. "Else I'd… I do bad things…"

"What are you even talking about?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shrugged and whimpered at the pain in his arm. Of course! The idiot would complain that Sasuke kept secrets from him, and then turn around and do the same to Sasuke. Well… not this time…

Brutally pressing against the broken bone, Sasuke almost felt his hearing die as Naruto cried in pain and tried to pry his hand away. "Naruto…" Sasuke warned the boy.

"Okay, ow, fuck, okay!" Naruto cried. Sasuke let up, and Naruto took several shallow breaths before he said, "The guy called me a pet…"

Sasuke looked dryly at Naruto. "This will hurt," he said, and Naruto screamed as Sasuke pressed a bone back into the skin. "I thought we were rebuilding our relationship on honesty…"

"We are…" Naruto agreed.

"But you're lying," Sasuke pointed out.

"I'm not…"

"We nearly got buried under the desert, and we're sitting here in the dark with only my flashlight," Sasuke pointed out. "Who knows where my brother and Kabuto are; most likely buried, but they sure as hell aren't with us… Not that I'm complaining about it…"

Naruto relented and Sasuke could tell he'd won the truth from his blond. It hadn't even taken much.

xXx

Rin bit her lip to keep from crying out and placed her balance on one arm as she set herself back outside the window. As usual, she'd slept outside and come morning she wanted to quietly slip back indoors so that no one would be the wiser. She hadn't anticipated to break her bones rather randomly in three separate places on her right forearm just by climbing through the window.

It all happened so fast, and then the bones were sticking out. She just didn't understand why she was so fragile, or why she'd be attacked by invisible spirits the day before.

Panting heavily, she looked inside the window at Neji's sleeping form and then at the bloody bones protruding from her arm. It hurt… so… bad…

She felt pressure on one of them and it was agony for a moment, but then it let up. And then the bone was sliding back into the skin. Rather than disrupting Neji, Rin decided to go to the front door. Gai was the sort of person who was too trusting of his neighbors to ever lock his door… and also too strong for any to dare rob him.

Slipping into the house, Rin quietly made her way to the bathroom and almost tripped over the pain of another bone being pushed back into place. Closing and locking the bathroom door, she gasped as the third was reset. She began rooting through Gai and Min's medical cabinet. Yesterday she needed stitches in her left arm. Today she had broken bones in her right arm… Why was this happening?

xXx

Naruto couldn't help it… when Sasuke was pushing the bones back in his flesh (and calling him a baby) he whimpered. Then of course Sasuke had the nerve to ask him if he was making that noise because he wanted to sound like an animal… Wasn't it bad enough he had a tail and ears? Obviously not.

He had to concede to Sasuke being right. The other boy really was. It was hard for him to explain exactly what happened just minutes before. Obviously the end result wasn't what he had planned for…


	71. Naruto's Blackouts

Title: Koumajutsu  
Author: TK  
Disclaimer: Well, if I owned it, I'd be rich. That would be nice.

Chapter 71: Naruto's Blackouts

Naruto grimaced as the expression on Sasuke's face demanded to know what had just happened and he felt like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. He thought about trying to skirt and run from the subject at hand, but really he had no escape just as he felt he had no option but to do what he just did.

Finally—very slowly—he said to Sasuke, "You remember our battle at the Valley of Ends, right?" His voice was very soft as he spoke, but there was no way Sasuke couldn't have heard him. Naruto looked away from the look that filled Sasuke's eyes: guilt. The Sharingan had disappeared and was replaced with a look of guilt. Naruto didn't even want to hear the affirmative, so he continued. "It started back then…"

Sasuke's voice was just as soft as Naruto's, and yet it echoed in the darkened underground tunnel they'd fallen into. "What started?"

"The blackouts…" Naruto's shoulders fell in shame.

"The blackouts?" Sasuke questioned.

Naruto muttered, "Yeah… you gonna repeat everything I say?"

"Fine," Sasuke sighed and fell silent. Naruto reached out and grasped Sasuke's left hand with his left hand, twining his fingers with the other boy's. He was surprised and pleased when Sasuke didn't pull away, but maybe Sasuke knew he needed a supportive hand? Then again, maybe not… Sasuke wasn't naturally supportive of much.

"Kakashi-sensei found me and carried me back to the hospital in Konoha. I was there for weeks, and I… I lost two weeks and all I remember from that time is one person." Sasuke frowned and Naruto realized he had started staring at his friend again, needing to see him… surprised he could in the darkness but blaming it on the demon eyes.

"Who is this person?" Sasuke asked.

"When I saw her… I don't understand it really, but I knew her as if I'd known her for years… As if she'd always been a silent supporter in my life and she was finally making herself known to me… I even knew her name; it's just that I don't know how I know…" Naruto thought about the girl who was there as the only constant through the nightmares. She was beautiful, with long black hair that curled just a bit at the tips, gorgeous brown eyes, and a bewitching smile. She knew who he was, and she never shied from him.

"What was her name?" Sasuke asked, but Naruto shook his head.

"That's the thing… I don't know her name… I do but I don't… when I see her, I know who she is. When I don't see her, I can't remember her name." Disbelief sparked through Sasuke's eyes and made Naruto feel a bit defensive. "It's true!" he said.

"What does this… nameless girl… have to do with this?" Sasuke inquired. He indicated the mess around them with the flashlight. It really was a mess… there was rubble everywhere and the darkness was as engulfing as the strange room was small. Naruto imagined he must have fallen into some Arthelian ruins. As cool as that was, his right arm as broken still and hurt like hell. It made thinking hard.

"I don't know… I think I like to see her sometimes, but I can't see her without…" Naruto paused and Sasuke's eyebrow lifted as if to say, 'Without what?' Sometimes Naruto hated being so good at reading his friend. "You know how I said I black out? Well… The only time I ever see her is when that happens…"

"So what exactly is the problem with these blackouts?" Sasuke asked. "Other than obviously not remembering what happened."

"I… I think I hurt people." Naruto looked down, shamefaced. "I've woken up from them covered in blood and beaten near death and once I even woke up over a hundred miles from the inn I was staying at with Jiraiya. I… I apparently married someone, and I don't remember doing it!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a rather dry expression on his face. "So you're married and cheated on your wife with _me_?"

"Well, yes and no… I cheated on my _first_ wife with my _second_ wife, and then you and Sakura came along and made it a harem." Sasuke looked disgusted. "What? It's not like I remember marrying _either_ of them! I just woke up and I was married…"

Sasuke spun the flashlight in his hands, his lips pursed. "So you go around hitting on everything with an ass even though you're married and should be able to get it from two women?"

"hn'On doesn't care, and I don't think Mjra minds either…"

"It makes no sense. You would've mentioned this before now if it were true." Sasuke's expression became totally unreadable and that bothered Naruto a great deal. Not knowing what Sasuke was thinking was likely to cause problems later down the road in a conversation… Naruto just didn't know what to brace himself for.

"I blacked out, Sasuke. What am I s'posed'ta tell people? 'Hey, by the way! I married two women in the last year and don't remember it!' Yeah, that'll go over well… I had a devil of a time convincing hn'On to keep quiet about it too, especially since her culture worships men and won't let them fight."

"And have you 'blacked out' with me?"

Was that it? Was that what Sasuke was worried about? Sighing, Naruto leaned against Sasuke's side. "No. I haven't blacked out since February. I learned to stop the blackouts."

Sasuke said, "How?"

"My chakra reverses just before I black out." He lifted his jacket and shirt, revealing the markings on his stomach. Sasuke directed the flashlight at Naruto and interest flashed through his eyes as he examined them. "These always appear on the left side of my body. They fade away after a while. The more times I black out, the more spirals appear and the longer the pattern grows."

Sasuke reached out, brushing his finger against it as though by doing so he might make the markings smear or rub off. Naruto's stomach twitched as Sasuke's motions tickled him. "So this hn'On woman won't speak of her marriage to you. How did you get married then? Surely someone must know."

"I told you I don't remember!" Naruto yanked his shirt down and glared at Sasuke, daring Sasuke to make fun of him. Sasuke said nothing but his expression became emotionless again. "I don't know how it works, or why, but these aren't ordinary nightmares! I don't care how many times Jiraiya says they're just dreams, they're real!"

Sasuke shook his head, "If you ask me it sounds rather sketchy…"

"It's _true_!" Naruto insisted.

"Did you consummate the marriage?" Sasuke asked. Naruto felt confusion well in his gut. "Did you have sex?" Sasuke then asked bluntly.

"Well… yeah…" Naruto blushed. "I think so… but I don't remember. I just… woke up with them."

"hn'On is one of the participants in the exam, isn't she?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke shrugged. "Just looking at the facts, Naruto. As Kyuubi's host, you could potentially be more prolific or you could be sterile—"

"I'm _not_ sterile." Naruto interrupted.

"How do you _know_?" Sasuke said.

"Because… Because I just know, okay?" Naruto huffed and tenderly poked at one of the breaks. It hurt. A lot.

"Why are you so sensitive about that?"

"I'm not sensitive. Just drop it."

"Because we're really building our relationship back up on honesty and trust, aren't we?" Sasuke asked. "I don't get you. You want _me_ to be honest and forthcoming but whenever you might have to talk about something _you're_ not comfortable with, you skirt the subject and that's supposed to be alright." Sasuke stood up off the rubble and looked around for a way out. "Let's just shut up and find a way out."

"…Sasuke…" Naruto felt hurt as his friend started to ignore him. He watched Sasuke direct the beam of light on a ventilation shaft on the other side of the ceiling. Sasuke tried to climb the wall with chakra but the minute chakra touched the wall it started to crumble.

Sasuke got back up and a frown pursed his lips. "Get over here," he snapped, clearly not in the mood for idle chatter anymore. "I'm going to lift you up. You grab that grate."

"With a broken arm?" Naruto half shrieked.

"You've got a spare; where's the problem?" Naruto decided not to complain, but with a lot of effort they managed to get themselves into the completely vertical vent shaft without using any chakra, although as Naruto braced himself to the sides with his back, his feet, and one hand he continued to cringe at the pain in his right arm. Sasuke was under him, so if he fell he was going to knock both of them right out of the vent.  
"Sasuke, I can't move." Naruto complained.

"Go up, but don't use chakra." Sasuke said. Naruto groaned and then scooted slowly upward. Forever felt like it had made its appearance twice before hightailing off. Sasuke suddenly asked, "Naruto, damn it, stop spitting."

"Spitting? I didn't spit," Naruto said. "What's your deal? I'm too busy trying to _not fall_. You know, if you haven't noticed."

"Then why is there something moist on the back of my neck?"

"How should I kn… gah!" Naruto cried out as his hand slipped on something rather gooey and he nearly came crashing down out of the vent. Bracing himself tight with his feet and back he said, "Sasuke, stop it, that's dangerous!"

"I didn't do anything!" Sasuke hissed.

When they'd climbed high enough, Naruto found the vent shaft branched off in a more horizontal direction. Immediately he took that opportunity and slid himself through the large shaft, pausing far enough in that Sasuke could follow his direction. "Here, this way," Naruto said, breathing heavily and wincing at the pain in his arm.

"What is this slime?" Sasuke asked, trying to wipe his arms off.

"I don't have a _clue_ what," was Naruto's response. "I've been in an Arthelian city, before, sure, but I didn't know the vents had gross shit in them."

There was still a tense feeling in the atmosphere. Naruto wanted things to be okay between him and his friend, but he wasn't willing to tell Sasuke about Acorn and Leaf, the two babies who he'd killed in his obsession to find Sasuke.

Sasuke wasn't letting the tension up at all. "Whatever. Keep moving. I want to find a way out of here. I think I have cracked ribs."

xXx

"I never once let you down," Kagome sang softly, bored of the strange underground laboratory. "Forgive me if I slip away… When all that I've loved is lost and found…"

As Aoife worked on…whatever it was she was working on…Kagome twirled and spun in circles. She was cold, but that wasn't surprising to her. She was who-knew how many feet under ground in an ancient city built of metal.

Singing and dancing kept her from the gates of boredom, and doubled in value as the activity worked to keep her from being too cold. She closed her eyes, imagining the warmth of the sun beating down on her. Imagining her family, friends, and clan sitting all around her as she danced, listening to her. "I promise you I, I'll come back to you one day…"

And there… her father… his hand grasping hers in its large warmth… He had a smile on his face. He twirled her around, her hand over her head. He danced with her, just as he once promised he would "when she grew up". The dance she was refused because of his untimely death.

"Morning is waking up, and sometimes it's more than just enough," she sighed and stopped dancing, her voice hardly a memory in the city. Walking over to Aoife, she asked, "Are you done yet?" she rubbed her bare arms, wishing she'd worn something with more substance than the thigh-length red silk dress she'd decided on. She was in a desert! She shouldn't be this cold.

Kagome was bitter over the lost opportunity. Over _several_ lost opportunities, but more importantly, she missed her family. Half of her blamed her sister. The other half wanted her sister back so bad, it was painful. Kikyou was the only other person who could really understand what being a Summoner was like. And she didn't even know if the girl was still alive. For all Kagome knew, she might've died; it wasn't as though the death would have caused a ripple on the world that let everyone know she was gone instantly.

"Thirty seconds," Aoife said.

"You've been saying that for like, ever!" Kagome grumbled.

"Got it." She pulled a strange bit of metal out of the terminal and stuck it in her mouth. Kagome wanted to ask if Aoife swallowed it but suddenly the lights went out. Kagome squeaked as she heard a loud noise continuously beeping away. "You've got to be kidding me!" Aoife growled.

"What? What is it??" Kagome questioned the other woman.

"Someone just rerouted all the power to another sector." A loud noise—like the sealing of a door—made Kagome squeak again. Suddenly it seemed even darker still.

"Please, _please_ tell me our way out did not just close…"

"Okay, I won't," Aoife said and remained silent.

After a long moment, Kagome began groping blindly for the other woman's arm, nervous and wanting to know she wasn't alone in the terribly dark room. "Aoife, what just happened!"

"You don't want to know." Aoife pointed out.

"I do, okay?"

"The door to this lab is rigged to remain closed as long as this sector of the city has no power; it was a precautionary measure to prevent thieves from stealing our research." Aoife said calmly. "That door doesn't open as long as there is no power."

"WHAT?!" Kagome half screeched. She was _not_ going to be stuck in here until she randomly died. "How do we get out?"

"We don't…? There are no alternative routes out of here… That's the only way, but we'd need power to get those open." Kagome didn't think things could have gotten worse than the slavers, but she was wrong. Things had gotten much, much worse. Aoife slipped out of her hands and Kagome panicked.

"Aoife, wait, where are you, you're not leaving me here are you?" So, lost, alone, stuck in an ancient city, scared out of her wits over a darkness that was rivaled only by how cold it was, she was a coward.

She heard a crash, like smashing glass, and screamed in fear and terror. Did things really have to be like this? She heard liquid pouring from something; probably one of those tanks with all the liquid in them and the bodies of disfigured people. Something fell onto the floor heavily, but Kagome wasn't given much time to think about it.

"Come here…" Aoife said, her voice straining a bit. Kagome felt liquid under her feet, soaking the reed sandals she wore as she moved over toward the minor grunts Aoife was making. She tripped over something on the floor that hadn't been there before and tried not to think of which one it might've been—a deformed one, or was it… the disturbingly handsome one that looked _very_ human…?

She felt her arm brush Aoife's flesh. "Go down this chute." Aoife said, putting Kagome's hands on an open space. Kagome felt glass cut her fingers and winced. As if Aoife was reading her thoughts, the other woman said, "It's not exactly a way out… but its better than staying here."

"What is it?" Kagome dared to ask.

"You don't want to know. Just go down. And take a deep breath, because you'll be enveloped in water. Don't struggle to stay afloat. Let the current take you down or you'll die."

"This is _so_ the worst day of my life…" Kagome exaggerated. Okay, so the worst day of her life was long past, but hey, who was counting?

**Thank you for reading! Sorry about the crappiness of the chapter, but I've had a tough time getting anything out at all, so hopefully it was okay anyway. Let me know what you thought, please...**


	72. Records

Chapter 72: Records

Rin nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone speaking behind her, addressing her from the window. "And I presume you have an explanation for your injury, Rin?" Orooon asked softly from where he peered in the window.

She turned to look at the kitsune, feeling guilty. She always felt guilty for those mysteriously occurred injuries. Mostly she felt bad because she simply wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve them. "Not really," she said quietly. She watched him swiftly enter the bathroom through the window.

It seemed Orooon wasn't going to listen to her and stay on her new property. She wasn't sure if she was surprised or not. The city was keeping an eye on her with their ANBU guards dogging her every movement. Why would Orooon leave her safety up to chance?

"Let me see," he told her firmly. It didn't take long for him to assess the damage and flick her forehead in chastisement. "You cause so much damage to yourself, girl. Stay here, and don't bump it. I'll go get something to splint the injury."

The red head quickly returned with straight branches and he used the gauze from the bathroom's first aid kit to hold her splints in place. "Why does it happen, Orooon?" she asked the fox, watching his pointed ears twitch.

"I do not know. Perhaps it is not happening to you; perhaps these injuries are the mirror of your brother." He leaned back. "Perhaps what you feel are his pains… I have no explanation otherwise."

"If this is the pain Naruto feels, I'd gladly take it so that he doesn't have to." She sighed. "Today, I meet the clansmen who will 'swear fealty' to me. It's really a load of hogwash, Orooon. Not a single one of them are going to be happy…"

"You cannot please everyone." Orooon told her. "Just do what you feel is right, and seek guidance where you can afford it."

xXx

Neji frowned. He was once more down in the basement of Hokage Tower, in the hall of records. This time he had come prepared, with a bigger idea of what to look for. He was determined to figure out what the Uzumaki blood trait was, even if he regretted it later on. He had bits and pieces that made no sense. But he was determined to figure this out.

He took the Uzumaki clan White book and Black book to a table and sat down at it with a pen and paper. The empty graves of Yondaime Hokage and his wife bothered Neji greatly. Neji wanted to know what Hiyashi had known, and he wanted to be aware of why it was Hiyashi hated Naruto and Rin so much.

And damn it, why in the name of Fate's mother did Neji have to be involved in all this? He had a perfectly normal life. He realized, of course, that all his internal whinging was getting annoying—even to him! Not, of course, that he was complaining or allowing anyone to know that this whole situation really bothered him… no. He wasn't bothered.

The place to start, Neji was certain it was here. There was no such thing as mere coincidence. There was something to be known about the births and deaths. The clan records went back as far as H.E. 224. The names they used at that time were rather ridiculous and honestly barbaric sounding, but the clan at that time had a huge number of births.

Neji counted the number of registered births that year. Since every birth was twins, he was easily able to presume the clan was enormous… probably even in the thousands. Some of the names of those registered were Huitzilin, Chimalpopoca, and Acamapichtli. He wrote those names down, determined to find out what origin they were.

He compared the log of deaths with the log of births. Very few people seemed to die for the next twenty years—in fact, so few seemed to die, it was almost ridiculous. In H.E. 244-246, the clan saw a record number of deaths; over one thousand people died. Neji wrote that down, wanting to research why those people died.

Every year following H.E. 246, the younger twin died within ten days of their birth. Why? He was sure he would find the answer…

H.E. 250 was where the logs suddenly stopped providing very much detail. It was as if thousands of people suddenly weren't having children… Thousands of people weren't bothering dying. Every fifteen to twenty years, twins were born. Within ten days, one of them would be recorded dead… Was this their blood trait?

Neji wasn't sure if he was making any sense of this like he wanted to, or if he was just confusing himself more. Having the information from the White and Black books that he needed (he just hoped he didn't get caught coming here without permission…) he left the clan hall of records.

He wanted to understand this. For two hundred years, it seemed the clan dwindled down into next to nothing. It went from being larger than all the other clans combined at the time of Konohagakure's birth, to being barely three people alive at once. Now in H.E. 466, the clan was 'growing' again…

He wondered how likely it was that any of these people would be loyal to Rin and Naruto? Neji wasn't precisely a loyal subject of the clan. He had a job to do, and either he could do it willingly or in extreme pain, but one way or another, his job would be done. He couldn't go against Hiyashi.

But really, why would he _want_ to go against Hiyashi? Why would he even consider it, when it was his freedom he would gain from all of this? The caged bird seal would be removed, and he could return to his clan a free man. It was what every branch Hyuuga dreamed of; that freedom to do what they wanted.

He wasn't even entirely sure what he was looking for at this point; more than he was scrambling for details he didn't even know existed. He just kept going over the facts in his mind… Everything that he knew, that he found out, but that didn't make sense.

Thinking about all the things he had come across, Neji soon found himself at a table in a small café, his notebook out once again and trying desperately to piece the details together into something that made sense.

First things first: Rin Uzumaki. She appeared out of nowhere. Where the bloody hell did she come from? It was like she simply appeared. Finding out where she was all these years, and why no one knew about her would be the first step in finding out what the hell was going on.

So what did he know about Rin?

Well he knew she had no shame. That was the most prominent feature in his mind about her. She may have been raised by citizens with lesser values… perhaps in a less fortunate district. Everyone knew that the crime rate was higher in some districts in Konohagakure. It didn't help the people there at all that due to a higher crime rate and a need for more patrols in the area, they were taxed higher and thus had a more difficult time saving money to move.

She disliked constrictions, abhorred footwear, and her back was littered in old scar markings. Those traits could also be from how she grew up. He'd seen many people in various low income districts. The men, women, and children were generally unwashed, underfed, and wore scraps of clothing where they could afford it. Those sorts of people did not generally _leave_ their districts and being born to such places was almost like being born into slavery.

It was those small details that made him presume her low upbringing. However, if she was in fact from one of the slum districts, which one was it? More importantly, _how_ did she manage to get out? Who brought her to believe she was an Uzumaki? There was still a chance that she was a fake… but given the birth records, twins was highly predominant in the Uzumaki bloodline. He thought about going back to find out if there was a single birth _anywhere_ in the records, but decided it was better simply noted for now. Surely such a birth would have stuck out at him with how closely he'd pored over those records.

He knew Rin had strange tattoos on her body as well. As he ate his lunch, not entirely sure of when he'd ordered the food, he drew an image of the tattoos and wrote down a description of where it was on her. He'd never seen those markings before, anywhere, in any records.

The markings might even be something that Hiyashi would want to know about too. There was that strange photo of Rin—he was _positive_ it was Rin in the picture… Rin, with Yondaime Hokage, another woman who looked like her, and …a demon who looked remarkably similar to Naruto.

But it _couldn't_ be her. That picture was dated sixteen years ago. And though that barbaric creature in the photo looked like Naruto, there was really no way it could have honestly _been_ the bubbly blonde dolt.

What else did he have to look at? And why was he looking at this stuff again? He did have a natural and rather insane curiosity about the Uzumaki now.

He did know there hadn't been a single death in the last century to be recorded on the Memorial Stone, and he could presume that Naruto's father had been Yondaime Hokage. Something strange he found was that if Naruto's father was indeed the Yondaime, then he wasn't recorded on the Memorial Stone. No… There was a statue of him but even that didn't say his actual name. It was as if the Yondaime Hokage had become nothing but a legend, and a fleeting one at that.

Neji might be able to fit more pieces in this mystery if he found out more about the Yondaime Hokage, because that was a curious mystery. No one ever questioned who the Yondaime was, if he was truly alive or dead. The suggestion of the empty grave could indicate he didn't have a body to bury, or that maybe he was still alive and the burial was a cover up for whatever reason.

From what they had been taught growing up, Yondaime Hokage was killed sealing the demon Kyuubi away… Sealing the demon in Naruto. His son? Of all the people to choose from in the city… hundreds of babies, he chose Naruto. Why? Was that even significant?

Neji had seen Naruto's bare ass enough times to know that Naruto didn't have the same markings Rin did. Those memories were ones Neji could do without, but regardless they were there. Neji would have preferred very much if Naruto would start having a care for propriety. Somehow he doubted Naruto would for anyone's sake.

The barbaric names of the first recorded Uzumaki clansmen, and the… Damn, Neji's life had taken such a boring turn… Not that he was normally Mr. Excitement, but what did he have to show for his life recently other than a notebook full of the most ridiculous and presumptive ideas that anyone could possibly have come up with…

There was no way that Yondaime Hokage could possibly still be alive, because the seal he was said to have used on Naruto was one that would have killed him. There was no other way around it. Neji sighed. Seriously, what was he thinking?

xXx

"I'm telling you, it's not coming off." Naruto complained as Sasuke kicked at a vent shaft grate. It felt like they'd been in the vent for hours. Naruto was feeling incredibly grimy, and he didn't doubt Sasuke felt exactly the same.

The vents were coated in thousands of years worth of dust and sand from where parts of the city must have collapsed and the desert above got into the city. Naruto wasn't entirely sure how the sand might have migrated to seemingly every part of the city vents, because the air was stagnant, but that was merely in the back of his mind especially when he saw Sasuke slump in front of him, breathing shallowly and holding his rib cage slightly.

"Hey, you okay?" Naruto asked his friend.

Sasuke sent him a baleful glare, his face illuminated by the beams of light from their flashlights. For once, Naruto really took a moment to look his friend over. Sasuke's face was paler than usual and little beads of perspiration had formed on his forehead and his black eyes were shadowed with pain.

And, as usual, Sasuke responded with a snippy tone of voice almost as if he were king of the world, and how dare Naruto ask such a stupid, ridiculous question. "Do you think I'm okay? It's thanks to your idiocy I may have broken ribs."

"Like I'm any better off!" Naruto snapped, affronted by Sasuke's accusing words. "My arm is broken!"

"My ribs could pierce my lungs, and I could drown to death of my own blood." Sasuke shot back. "Shut up and help me kick off this grate."

"If it wanted to come off, it would have by now. _Clearly_ it doesn't want to come off." Naruto was tired, his arm hurt like nobody's business, and he honestly just wanted to sit for a moment and catch his breath. He figured they had to have crawled for miles in the vents, running into dead ends, collapsed sections of the vents that were either just sealed off by fallen rubble or else their vent shaft opened into vast nothingness and they would stare down at a huge canyon leading into the depths of the earth.

"You're speaking about a vent grate, Naruto. It doesn't have a _choice_ in the matter. I want it off, therefore, we are going to get it off. I'm tired of being in this vent, okay?" Sasuke said through grit teeth.

"What's the purpose of getting it off? You saw how easily this old hunk of ruins falls apart. For all we know this could be one of the dead ends leading into the center of the earth and that huge, gaping black hole of _death_ that wants to eat us alive." Naruto argued.

"Why is it every time you want to argue or do something, you end up completely overdramatizing it?" Sasuke demanded. He kicked at the grate again.

"I do not!" Naruto retorted, holding his preciously broken arm to him.

"Our first mission." Sasuke said. "You _stabbed_ yourself."

"I didn't stab myself! If I recall correctly, I had to use my best shirt to stop you from bleeding to death."

"What are you even talking about?"

Naruto growled and glared at Sasuke. "That old bag's cat clawed you near to death!"

"Oh for fuck's sake. You don't seriously consider finding the cat a real mission…" Sasuke trailed off, "Right. This is you. And if I am recalling correctly, it was a tiny scrape on my arm; there wasn't even any blood."

As Sasuke smashed his heel on the grate again it started to come off the wall. Naruto winced. "Sasuke, stop. We'll find another—"

Sasuke pounded on it some more.

"Another what, Naruto? You think we might find _signs_ somewhere in this vent saying, 'This way to stairs'. Right. You go ahead and keep searching. I am getting out of here." With every other word, he hit the grate again, and at last it came off. Sasuke heaved out a breath and relaxed. "This is worse than hell." He moaned as they heard the grate hit water below them.

Curious, Naruto crawled around Sasuke, peering out the hole. Probably fifteen feet beneath them was a rather stagnant water source; the only movement the water saw was where the grate had gone through it. "Sasuke… I think we're a lot further down in the city than we ougtta be."

"Oh, so _now_ you're suddenly an expert?"

Naruto looked up at the open air outside the vent, his flashlight lighting up long, circular tube shafts. "I never said I was an expert! Damn, Sasuke, why do you always have to do that?"

"Do what?" he asked, shifting so he could peer out the hole as well. "Take charge of the situation and try to find a way out of it?"

"No, you always--… Never mind…"

"Never mind what?" Sasuke asked. "Because there _you_ go. Chickening out when you've got something to say."

"What are you saying?" Naruto demanded.

"Just shut up and get out of the vent." Sasuke said.

"Get out of the vent into nasty ass water? Who knows how far down that goes, and my arm's broken. I can't swim with a broken," Sasuke grabbed Naruto's ear, pinching the foxy appendage. Naruto did _not_ see the advantage of having the extra ears, especially when Sasuke had such a good grip on it. "Ahhh! That fucking hurts!"

"Use chakra to keep yourself up!" Sasuke snapped.

"Yeah, because we saw how well that worked on the wall!" Naruto retorted.

It was at that point that Sasuke practically rolled himself out of the vent, like he had something to prove to Naruto. The blond reached out to grab his friend but he wasn't fast enough. Thankfully Sasuke was fine; he landed on the water, held up by his chakra. Naruto frowned and carefully inched toward the edge of the vent as Sasuke's flashlight beam lit on his face. He really didn't feel like jumping out of the vent, fearing the incredibly likely chance he'd jostle his painfully broken arm, but he no longer had an option.

He did it anyway, nearly losing balance when he _did_ jostle his arm. He bit his lip as Sasuke steadied him. They walked around on the water for what felt like hours, Sasuke giving Naruto the silent treatment once again.

Well of course that didn't matter. One minute they were walking on the scummy water, the next they heard a scream from above. Naruto and Sasuke tried to locate where the scream originated, and then with a thud and a splash, Sasuke was suddenly sinking into the liquid.

Naruto turned around, seeing bubbles and the murky water had been disturbed, but his friend was distinctly gone. "Sasuke?" he searched around, looking for the raven. Then Sasuke burst out of the water, coughing and choking, spitting up nasty brown liquid. "Sasuke, you okay?" Naruto asked him.

Another head burst out of the muck, gasping for air. The beam from Naruto's light hit that dirty head and Naruto was stunned. "Hey! You're that girl I was chasing." Naruto insisted. He quickly went to help her, pulling her out of the brown nastiness. Meanwhile, Sasuke was attempting to glare at Naruto for not helping him. He had brown goo in his eyes, which made glaring difficult.

Naruto continued to ignore him as he helped Kagome out of the muck. "Ew. So gross." Kagome said.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked her. "Did you hurt anything?"

"Me." Sasuke grumbled. "Now my ribs really hurt."

Naruto did not pay attention to his "silent treatmenting" friend. If Sasuke wanted to play games, Naruto would play back. "Oh, I'm alright, I think." Kagome said quietly, wiping her face of with her equally filthy arm. "Ugh, so gross."

Sasuke pulled himself on top of the water, steadying himself with chakra. "Thanks for your concern, Naruto. I feel the love."

"Yeah? Well, you felt the love last week. Oh wait, you were too drunk to remember."

"I'll thank you, but I remember every detail." Sasuke said, spitting more goop out of his mouth.

"Like how you were the girl."

"Hello guys, but please?" Kagome asked impatiently, clinging to Naruto's good arm. "Where are we? Have you seen Aoife?" At that moment, another body flew into Sasuke from above, knocking him down into the muck again. "Oh, there she is. Your friend seems to be poorly positioned."

Naruto glanced upward. "Is that the last of you guys?"

"Mhm." Kagome nodded.

* * *

**_Hi. I've been stuck lately on all my stories. I've got starts to several of them and hope to keep the flow going but I feel that something is missing here with my work. Any ideas to push me going again would be greatly appreciated. If you don't have ideas or help for me, please expect the next chapter will be slow coming. Thank you._**


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